YuGiOh: Phoenix Awakening
by Mayou B. Well
Summary: A year after Pharoah Atem leaves his friends, Sailor Moon combines with Yu-Gi-Oh to create a funny, romantic, adventure with a lot of thrills! Feel free to give as many comments as you want, suggestions too! A sailor moon/yugioh crossover! Please R&R!
1. Ch 1: A New Beginning

Disclaimer: The rights of Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Kazuki Takahashi.

It's been exactly one year since Pharaoh Atem had left his friends and colleagues, and life seems to have gone back to normal. Except for Maximillian Pegasus, who was sitting in his painting gallery, constructing new cards for the game he created, Duel Monsters.

"Yes," he breathed, "beautiful." Pegasus gently stroked the canvas with his brush, perfecting its delicate features.

He rested his chin on his hand, admiring his work. _Oh Cecelia, _he thought, _I know you would love this if you were still here. _Pegasus slowly took a sip of red wine, before he was interrupted.

"Mr. Pegasus, sir?" It was one of his employees.

Maximillian almost choked on his drink. "Can't you see I'm busy!?" the millionaire barked. "What could be so important that can't wait until after I'm through?!"

Hans felt his cheeks redden. "I'm sorry to interrupt sir, but you have a call from Seto Kaiba." He held out the phone.

"Oh!" Pegasus immediately brightened. "Well then that changes everything now, doesn't it?" He took the phone from his worker, then shooed him away.

"Kaiba boy! So wonderful to hear from you!" he crooned. "How long has it been? Five…maybe six months?"

"Cut the small talk Pegasus." Kaiba said, "I heard you had some new cards." Seto Kaiba was sitting in the office of his billion-dollar corporation, Kaiba Corp. He pounded his fist on the desk. "I want them!"

"Ahh, Kaiba," Pegasus sighed, "just as sweet and friendly as ever. So tell me Kaiba boy, what makes you think that I would just give them to you?"

"I think you've misunderstood," Kaiba replied, "I'm willing to pay whatever price to get my hands on those cards."

Pegasus was staring at his painting before he started to laugh. "What, are you kidding me? What do you think I've been doing for the last thirty years of my life? Working at a fast-food restaurant?!" he paused, "But…when you say whatever price does that include young Mokuba?" he smiled deviously.

Kaiba froze at the sound of his younger brother's name. "How dare you bring him into this you snake!" he snarled, still remembering the sight of his little brother locked up in chains. "You know that's not what I meant!"

"Of course I do." Pegasus chuckled. "Tell you what, if you want these cards so badly then you're going to have to get them the old fashioned way. In a duel!"

"I don't have time to play your little games. I have a corporation to run!"

"You really think it's that simple don't you?" he chuckled. "I'm not asking you to duel me. See, you're going to have to win in my next tournament!"

"What!?" Kaiba yelled, "You could be putting those cards into the hands of a five-year old!"

"If that's who the winner is then yes. Although I'm hoping it doesn't come down to that."

"This isn't over yet you slime ball!" Seto protested, "I will get those cards!"

"Touché." Pegasus replied.

Seto Kaiba slammed the phone into the receiver, shaking with fury.

"Seto." Mokuba whispered. He peeked through the sliding doors, watching his older brother rest his head in his hands. "Why don't you smile anymore? I know! I'll win those cards for you! That'll make you happy!"

And so Mokuba started running, determined to win those cards for his brother.

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"Where are they?" Téa said impatiently. She was standing with Yugi Muto, waiting for their friends Tristan and Joey.

"Gee, I don't know Téa." Yugi replied, "They should be here by now." He paused, noticing that Téa was staring at him. "What are you looking at?"

"Huh?" she blushed, "Oh, nothing." _I wonder,_ she thought, _if he knows that it's been exactly one year since the pharaoh left. Does he remember? I sure do._

As Téa was about to open her mouth to speak, Tristan and Joey came running toward them, panting as they stopped.

"Hey." Tristan gasped, "Sorry…that we're…late."

"Yeah," Joey said, "had to stop…for a hotdog."

_Those guys are so crazy!_ Yugi thought, shaking his head. Then he froze. He hadn't realized that he was waiting for someone to respond to his thoughts. Someone…meaning the pharaoh. Yugi's face immediately fell.

Téa noticed. "Something wrong Yugi?" she asked.

"Oh it's nothing Téa!" he laughed. But Téa knew Yugi all too well.

Although Tristan and Joey didn't.

"Hey how 'bout getting a pizza?" Joey suggested.

"Um, didn't you guys just come back from eating hotdogs?" asked Téa, annoyed.

"Yeah, but all that running made us hungry again." Tristan complained.

"Wait guys," Yugi said, "I have to stop by my Grandpa's shop first."

"Hang on Yug, we'll come with you." Joey suggested.

Yugi nodded. "Okay let's go."

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"Grandpa?" Yugi called out, opening the door to his grandfather's shop.

"That's weird." Tristan commented, "Why's your grandpa's shop closed?"

"Yeah and why are all the lights switched off?" Téa added.

"Yoo hoo!" Joey called out, "Yo, Gramps, you in here?"

"Guys over here!" Yugi shouted.

The four friends entered into the living room, where Yugi's grandfather sat six inches from the TV, not blinking, not moving.

"Oh no!" Joey wailed, "Yugi's gramp's turned into a zombie!"

"Pipe down Joey," Grandpa scolded. "I'm just waiting for something special to come on. It could start any moment now!"

"Grandpa, what special thing are you waiting for?" Yugi asked.

"Shh! It's starting!" he replied.

Everyone gathered around the TV, just in time to see Pegasus' face fill up the tiny screen.

"Greetings fellow duelists around the world!" he started, "In honor of the new cards I've created I've decided to hold a special tournament at Duelist Kingdom, putting those cards up for grabs! These cards are exclusive one of a kind treasures and I assure you that you won't find them anywhere else! The tournament begins next week! And I expect to see a lot of familiar faces there!" he paused then leaned toward the camera, lowering his voice, "that includes you Yugi boy."

For a moment no one said anything. Then Tristan spoke up.

"I don't trust that guy." He mumbled.

"Yeah," Téa agreed, "what's he up to?"

"Whaaat!?" Joey yelled, "How could he not mention me?! I was runner up at Duelist Kingdom! Where's the respect I deserve?"

"What do you make of all this Grandpa?" Yugi asked.

"Yugi!!!!" he shouted, grabbing his grandson's shoulders. Yugi flinched, startled. "You have to enter that tournament, you have to win those cards, I deserve them!" he sputtered, "I mean…you, deserve them, Yugi."

"Whoa! Slow down Grandpa!"

"Mr. Muto, what's so special about these few cards?" asked Téa.

He turned toward her. "It's not just a few cards, Téa. It's a whole deck of brand new, one of a kind cards!"

"A whole deck?" Joey and Tristan said in unison.

Grandpa nodded. "Mm-hmm. These cards are extremely rare. They say he was inspired on his trip to Japan."

"So…think we should head to Duelist Kingdom?" Tristan asked.

"I don't know. What do you think Yugi?" asked Téa.

"I still think that guy is up to something." Joey muttered, "He's almost as bad as Kaiba."

"Well," Yugi started, what have we got to lose?"

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"Oh wow, Domino City is huge! Look at all the cute shops, guys isn't this place great!" Serena turned to her friends.

"I don't know Serena," started Raye, "it's too crowded, all the buildings are cramped together and I'm not exactly getting the best vibes, you know?" Although Raye was mostly upset about leaving the Hino Shrine, her grandpa, and also, her former crush, Chad.

"I heard that there's a great high school over here." Amy said, flipping through her brochure. "Perfect place to spend our senior year."

"I think I'm going to like it here too!" Mina said, looking around at all the guys.

"Oooh, you are so right Mina!" Serena agreed.

"Serena you already have Darien!" Lita reminded her.

"I know and I miss him already!" she wailed. Darien applied and got accepted to a college in the U.S. and since Amy had also decided to study in America, Serena and her friends thought they would tag along. Lucky for Serena though, the school that Darien was attending was not too far from here.

"Serena you're such a crybaby." Raye muttered.

"I am not Raye, is there something wrong with missing you're boyfriend!?" she yelled.

"Um…sorry to interrupt but can we come out now? It's kind of cramped in here." Artemis said, peering out from his cage.

"Yes, please let us out," Luna pleaded, "I feel like some sort of prisoner."

"Oh Luna! Artemis! I'm so sorry!" Mini apologized, letting the two cats out.

"That's okay," Artemis replied, stretching his legs, "I'm just glad to finally be out of there!"

"Yeah sorry guys," Serena mumbled, "I was just a little distracted by Miss Bratty over here."

"Why you…" Raye started.

"Alright you two," Lita interrupted, "we're not going to get anywhere if you two won't stop arguing."

Before anyone else could respond, the same commercial Yugi and his friends had watched appeared before the girls and all over Domino City.

The commercial ended as quickly as it had started.

Serena and her friends stood perfectly still, mouths open in shock.

"Isn't that the same guy we saw in Japan a few months earlier?" Mina asked.

"The infamous Maximillian Pegasus," Amy nodded, "creator of Duel Monsters."

"Yeah they had a big gathering for him and everything!" Lita added.

"They say the reason for him being there was because he was looking for an inspiration to make new cards." Raye said.

"Well he must have been inspired because here he is throwing a tournament." Mina said.

"Hey, I know! Why don't we go?" Serena suggested.

"You can't be serious." Luna answered, rolling her eyes.

"And why not?" she asked, glaring.

"Because meatball head," Raye muttered, "we don't even know where this Duelist Kingdom place is."

"And even if we did," Amy added, "it's next week, which means we'd be missing school and as new students that wouldn't make a very good impression."

"It'd also take some time to pack." Added Lita.

"Need we say more?" Mina questioned.

"Okay, okay, I got it!" Serena shouted.

"Good." Amy said. "Now, I say we should each split up and have a look around just to get familiar with this place. I'll go and check to see if we got registered at the new school. Then…in about an hour or so, we'll all meet back in front of that game shop." She pointed to the store in which they'd soon find out was Yugi's grandfather's.

"Everybody get it?"

"Got it!" they all agreed.

"Okay, see you all in an hour!"

And so they all set off on their separate ways, oblivious to the friends they were all about to make.

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"Hey! This is a nice bakery!" Lita commented, walking into the store. She took a deep breath, filling her nose with the smell of fresh bread and pastries.

She picked up a couple of rolls, stuffing them into a grocery bag. "Bet I can make something yummy out of this! Oops!" she accidentally dropped one on the floor and as she bent down to pick it up, her head collided with someone else's.

"Ow!" she yelped, falling back onto the floor.

"Hey, I'm really sorry about that." A voice said. A guy's voice.

"Oh it's fine, really, I'm o-…" as she was rubbing her forehead, she looked up to find the hunkiest guy she's ever met. He had deep chocolate brown eyes, brown hair, and a smile that could launch a thousand ships.

_Wow,_ she thought dreamily, _he looks just like…well, actually, he doesn't look like any of my ex-boyfriends!_

"Need a little help?" he asked, holding out his hand to her. She took it without a moment's hesitation. His hand felt so warm and a wave of electricity jolted through her.

He pulled Lita up to her feet then introduced himself. "Hi. I'm Tristan."

"I'm…Lita." She suddenly realized she was still holding on to his hand. She pulled it away, blushing furiously.

But Tristan just smiled. "Here." He said, holding out the roll. "You dropped this."

"Thanks." Lita mumbled, taking the roll from him. Once again their fingers brushed each other and she felt her cheeks redden.

"So…" he started, eying the grocery bag in her hands, "that's a lot of food you got there. Having a party?"

Was there a hint of jealousy in his voice? Lita doesn't know why but for some reason this made her really happy.

"Maybe. What's it to you?" she asked, teasingly.

Now it was Tristan's turn to blush. "Nothing," he stumbled, "it's just that I…I…"

Lita laughed. "Actually it's for my friends, they'd eat this whole bakery store if they could! Especially Serena…" she gasped, covering her mouth. She didn't mean to say so much, it's just that Tristan was so easy to talk to.

Tristan looked at her strangely for a moment, and then sighed. "I'd love to stay and talk with you Lita," he said, "but I better get going."

"Wait! Tristan!" Lita called out. Tristan turned around. "Will I get to see you again soon?"

Tristan smiled sadly. "I doubt it seeing that I'll be heading to Duelist Kingdom next week."

And as Tristan was walking out the door Lita thought, _You may not know this yet Tristan, but so am I. _

Lita turned to the cashier to pay for the groceries, giving the money in the hand that was still warm, from Tristan's touch.

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_Careful…careful Amy. _She thought, carrying an armload of books. _Maybe I should have checked at the school to see if we registered first, and then went to the library. Not one of your most brilliant ideas Amy! _

The books in Amy's arms stacked high over her head, so she could barely see. Although she could still hear.

"Just look at that geek," a voice said, "how many books can that girl read?"

"That's Amy Mizuno," another voice whispered, "I heard that she's like a genius! People say her parents are filthy rich!"

"She's probably a real snob."

"Yeah, thinks she's too good for us!"

The two friends snickered as Amy quickly walked away, on the verge of tears.

She leaned against the fence that surrounded the school and threw her books on the ground. Then she let the tears fall.

_I guess it doesn't matter where I go, _she whimpered silently, _people are always going to make fun of me._

"Hey, you alright miss?"

Amy looked up, startled. In front of her was a boy around her age with messy blonde hair and brown eyes. He looked at her, concerned.

"Oh…yes, I'm fine." She lied, her eyes flickering back to the people who make fun of her.

The boy followed her gaze. "Did those two say something? Because if they did…"

Amy didn't say anything. Instead she started to pick up her books.

Joey quickly bent over to help her, skimming over the titles. _Calculus__? __Physiology__? _Joey looked into Amy's blue eyes. _Who is this girl?_ He thought.

"So what college are you going to?" he asked, flipping through Einstein's Theory of Relativity Pt. II.

Amy blinked, confused. "College?" she asked. And then she smiled. "Oh no! You see, I transferred to that school over there." She jerked her thumb at the school behind her.

Joey's jaw dropped. "What?! That's the same school I go to! Then what are all these books for?"

Amy looked at him like he'd grown a third arm. "I read them for fun of course."

"You…?" Joey sighed. "Ahh, forget it." He smiled. "So what's your name?"

"Oh how rude of me! My name is Amy Mizuno."

"And I bet you already know who I…" Joey slumped, "oh what's the point," he sulked, "nobody knows who I am."

It took Amy a moment before she finally recognized him. "You're Joey Wheeler! Came in second place at Duelist Kingdom and were one of the finalists in the Battle City Tournament!"

"See? What I tell…" Joey looked up, surprised. "Wait, what did you say?"

"I heard you're one of the top duelists in the world!" Amy said, smiling at him.

"You did? Well I don't like to brag…" Joey said sheepishly.

Amy straightened out her books. "Will you be entering next week's Duelist Kingdom Tournament?"

Joey suddenly turned serious. "As a matter of face Amy, I am. But it's not for those new cards. See, I don't trust that guy Pegasus one bit. I think that creep's up to something. Why? You thinking of entering too?"

"Oh no," Amy said, "actually, I don't ever know how to play Duel Monsters!"

"Well, then I guess I'll have to teach you sometime! But right now I better go home and start packing! Here's your book." Joey handed the book to her. "I'll see you later Amy!"

Amy set her other books down and clutched the one Joey had handed her to her chest. It was the only fiction book she had checked out. A romance novel, something she had a passion for and would be devastated if any of her friends found out. Although she wondered if Joey had seen it.

"Uh-oh!" Amy said, checking her watch, "Now I'm going to be late! Serena's bad habits must be rubbing off one me!"

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"Ugh, this place is terrible!" Raye complained, walking alongside the road. "No parks, no temples, not even a tree in sight! I knew I shouldn't have listened to Serena!"

As Raye was about to cross the street a teal car skidded to a stop, inches from running her over.

"Hey!" she yelped, "watch where you're going!"

Inside the car was Duke Devlin, creator of Dungeons and Dice and a close friend of Yugi's.

_Whoa,_ he thought, _she's cute._

"Hey are you even listening to me! Look at me when I'm talking to you, who do you think you are almost running me over like that! Do you have any idea who I am?!" Raye yelled at him.

"No, so why don't you tell me?" Duke said, smiling mischievously.

For the first time Raye actually looked at him. _Wow, _she thought, _he is so fine, but he still tried to run me over!_

"My name," she said stiffly, "is Raye." She then started to swiftly walk away on the sidewalk again.

"Hey! Slow down!" Duke called, slowly driving beside her. "Don't you want to know who I am?"

"Not particularly." Raye muttered.

"Well, I'll tell you anyway." Duke said, "I'm Duke Devlin, creator of Dungeons and Dice."

Suddenly Raye turned around, her eyes sparkling. "Duke Devlin!? You mean the Duke Devlin?!"

_I knew she'd fall for me sooner or later. _He thought arrogantly.

"Never heard of you!" she said at last. And Raye started to walk off again.

"Wait! Hold on!" Duke sputtered, surprised. "Don't you at least want a ride home?"

Raye sighed. "Thanks but I think I can manage." She said wryly.

"Fine if that's the way you want to be. Can you at least tell me if you've seek a kid with spiky hair, name's Yugi Muto?"

_Yugi? _Raye thought, _his name was mentioned on that commercial with Pegasus!_

"Why do you ask?" she asked, curious.

"Well, not that it's any of your business," Duke started, "but I'm kind of a close friend of his, and I just want to say hi, you know, see how he's doing." Duke shrugged.

"Uh, wasn't he mentioned by that one guy, on that commercial…" she started, trying to sound inconspicuous.

"Pegasus." Duke said, his face grave. "I used to have a lot of respect for that guy."

"Yeah him!" _Does this person not like Pegasus or something? _Raye thought, confused. _Must have had a bad past with him. _"Um actually I think I saw this Yugi Muto guy going…that way!" she said, pointing in a random direction.

"Hmm…that's weird. Okay. Thanks Raye!" he said, speeding off.

_My pleasure._ Raye thought deviously, then began whistling a happy tune as she headed down the street.

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"Ooh, Mina you got a great deal on all these stuffed animals!" Mina was walking through Domino City, shopping for things to put into her new room.

"Hey that looks like a nic-whoa!" she cried, tripping and scraping her knee.

"Stupid rock!" she said angrily, picking it up and throwing it as far as she could.

She froze when she heard the sound of glass shattering.

"Uh-oh." Mina whispered, sprinting to see the damage she's caused.

"Hey! What's the big idea?"

"Huh?" Mina said, looking at a little boy standing next to a limousine…who's rear window had a huge gaping hole the shape of the rock she's thrown.

"Look what you did to my big brother's window!" Mokuba shouted, glaring at her.

"Look," she started, "I'm really sorry about your window. I didn't mean to…" Mina trailed off not knowing what to say.

She came closer until she was standing right in front of Mokuba. "Here." She said, throwing him a blue stuffed seal, "take a stuffed animal, oh, and I'll pay for your window!" Mina reached into her pocked for money until she realized that she had spent it all on buying those stuffed animals.

"Mokuba what's taking so long!" A voice barked from inside the limo.

"So that's your name!" Mina said, smiling.

"Seto, I found the person who wrecked our window!" Mokuba called back.

"I wouldn't say, "wrecked"," Mina muttered.

"Ha!" Mokuba said smugly, "Now you're going to have to deal with my big brother!"

"Oh joy." Mina said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Alright, what's going on out here?" Mina watched as someone who looked no more than a year older than her step out of the limousine and examine the damage. Then he turned to Mina, eying her bag of toys.

"What did you do? Break my window with one of your cute little furballs?" he scoffed.

"No!" Mina shot back. Then added quietly, "I threw a rock at it."

This, unlike Mina had expected, seemed to make him even more angry. His little brother too.

"What?" Mokuba yelled, "do you have any idea of who you're dealing with?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure you're going to tell me kiddo." Mina sighed.

"My brother Seto is the owner of Kaiba Corporation the biggest gaming corporation in the world! He makes more money in a month then you probably will in your entire life!"

"Is that what KC stands for?" Mina said sarcastically, "I thought it stood for Katie's Cosmetics. And I bet that money's been put to good use too. Did he hire you to talk for him or are you always this pleasant?"

Mokuba was shaking with fury.

_We need to get moving, _Artemis thought, _otherwise we're going to be late. _He crept up behind Mina and scratched her leg.

"Ouch!" Mina yelped. "Artemis!"

"A cat?" Mokuba said. "Cool!"

"Oh you like animals?" Mina asked. "That's one thing we have in common!"

Mokuba smiled at her. "Guess you're right."

"Meow! Meow!" Artemis said to Mina.

"Well I think my cat's getting a little fussy which means I better get going! Oh, wait, before I do…"

Mina reached into her bag, pulling out a small paperweight with a ton of smiley faces sketched inside. She took Kaiba's hand, opened it, and placed the knick-knack inside.

"See you later sunshine! Mokuba!" she turned to Artemis. "Let's go Artemis." And they started running not once looking back at Kaiba and Mokuba, who were staring after them.

"Well, that was nice of you Mina." Artemis said.

"He looked like he could use a little bit of sunshine in his life." Mina shrugged. "Now c'mon, let's go before we're late!

Artemis shook his head then chuckled. "I think his sunshine," he started, "is you."

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"Oh I knew we shouldn't have stopped at that ice cream shop!" Luna scolded. "Serena why do you have to be such a pig!"

"I am not!" Serena said, her mouth full of her ice cream sandwich. They were running through Domino City, trying to look for the game shop so they wouldn't be late.

"Oh great, just how did we end up in here?" Luna barked, finding herself and Serena in a deep dark alley. "Just hope we don't run into any alley cats."

"Don't worry Luna we'll find our way out." Serena said, looking around. "At least…I hope we do."

Luna groaned.

Suddenly a bright light appeared before them, floating in air, then slowly coming down to the ground.

"What's happening?" Serena asked, shielding her eyes from the blinding light.

"I don't know!" Luna answered.

"Serena? Luna?"

"Wait! I recognize that voice!" Serena exclaimed. "It's…"

"Rini!" Luna finished for her.

"Hi you guys!" Rini squealed, now appearing before them.

"Rini!" Serena yelled, annoyed. "What are you doing here?"  
"Well Serena," Rini started, "Mom said that I should come over here and spend time with you and the Sailor Scouts! And look who I brought!"

"Diana!" Luna exclaimed.

"Ugh, this is all happening so fast!" Serena moaned.

"If you want proof that I should be here, Mom gave me a note herself!" Rini said, pulling out a small envelope.

Serena tried to grab for it but Rini held it out of her reach.

"Hey! Let me see it!"

"Mom told me to give it to Amy, not you!" Rini shot back.

"Listen up you little virus," Serena seethed, "I'm your mom in the future so you better give that…"

"Rini?" Luna interrupted, "You look…different?"

"Gosh, I was wondering when you guys would notice!"

"What, notice what?" Serena said looking around totally oblivious to Rini's appearance.

"Duh, you dork!" Rini exclaimed, "I'm sixteen!"

"What?" Serena said, "That's only two years younger than me!"

"Yep," Diana squeaked, "Neo Queen Serenity wants you to teach Rini about the wonderful life of adolescents. Since there isn't anyone her age to teach her at Crystal Tokyo!"

"But Serena's only a teenager herself!" Luna protested, "She can't even find a simple game shop!"

"Who better to learn about teenagers from, then a teenager!" Diana said.

"Especially one as stupid as Serena!" Rini added.

"Hey!" Serena cried. "We just got here! How do you expect me to find a game shop!?"

"Game shop?" Rini asked, as Serena and Luna started arguing. "You mean that one over there?" she said, pointing to the shop down the street.

Serena and Luna immediately stopped bickering and started to laugh uneasily.

Diana turned to Rini, "I still can't believe Serena's your mom!"

"And I still can't believe Luna is yours!" Rini laughed.


	2. Ch 2: Getting to Know Each Other

Yugi was wiping the windows of his grandfather's shop when he saw two girls with cats running his way.

"Um…can I help you?" he asked.

"Please sir," Rini said, "we need to know if you've seen any other girls come over here!"

Yugi felt his face grow hot. This girl was really pretty, Yugi can't remember seeing anyone like her here before and he knew pretty much everyone.

"Oh my goodness!!" the girl with the blonde meatballs cried, "You're Yugi Muto, King of Games, oh it is an honor to meet you!"

"Uh, nice to meet you too." Yugi said. Then he looked at Rini questioningly, wondering why she didn't recognize him too.

Rini blushed. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know you." Then she added, "My name's Rini."

"Oh and I'm Serena!" Serena chimed in.

"It's nice to meet both of you. Are…you two sisters?" Yugi asked, looking at their familiar hairstyles.

Rini and Serena looked at each other.

"You could say that." Rini smiled.

"Well, I guess we're here early," Serena said, checking her watch, "or everybody else is late."

"That's a first for you meatball head!"  
As Yugi was about to ask a question, he heard a familiar voice.

"Hey cutie!" Rebecca called out, grabbing his arm and kissing his cheek, "Oh Yugi I missed you so much!" She looked at Rini with darts shooting out of her eyes. "And who…are you?"

_Why is this girl angry with me? _Rini thought.

Luna noticed Rini's frightened look. _This must be what the queen was talking about._

"Hi!" Rini said brightly, "I'm Rini!" she held out her hand to Rebecca.

But Rebecca ignored it.

"Um…this is Rebecca," Yugi said, sounding apologetic. "We're just friends!" he added quickly.

_Why is he telling me this? _Rini thought, confused.

But before anyone else could say anything, Téa Gardener came toward them, furious.

"There you are!" Téa yelled at Rebecca then turned to Yugi, "I'm really sorry about that Yugi, the little squirt just got away from me that's all."

Rebecca stuck her tongue out at her.

"Oh that's okay Téa!" Yugi said, trying to get out of Rebecca's grasp.

Téa then noticed Serena and Rini. "Oh hi." She said.

"Hi, I'm Rini!"

"And I'm Serena!"

"And these are our cats, Luna and Diana."

But Téa and Rebecca weren't listening to them. Instead, those two were glaring each other, and Yugi, was right in the middle of it.

_Well, _Serena thought to herself, _those two look like best friends._

"I think we should go Serena," Rini said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Serena asked.

"They're obviously not here," Rini pointed out, "and from the looks of it they haven't been here either."

"She's right, you two should probably go." Rebecca agreed.

"Rebecca!" Téa scolded, "That is so mean!"

"Hey!" Raye called out to them.

"Ha!" Serena said triumphantly, "You guys are late!!!"

"So?" Raye shot back, "and how many times have you been late Serena?"

"Ooh, point taken." Serena said.

"Sorry we're late," Amy said, "it turns out we weren't registered and it took us longer than we expected."

For a moment it was quiet.

And then, "RINI?!?!" the girls shouted.

"Hey you guys!" Rini laughed.

Yugi watched as all the other girls hugged Rini. _Wow, _he thought, _they must be really good friends._

"Here Amy," Rini said, holding out the envelope to her, "Mom told me to give this to you."

"Thank you Rini," Amy said, taking the envelope and opening it. Everyone else peered over her shoulder as she began to read:

Dear Skouts,

Sorry for the suprise. It is just since Rini turned sixteen we thought it would be best for her to learn about adolescense from you all. Unfotunately there is no one from the Moon Kingdom as old as Rini. We know you all will do an excellent job with her.

Miss you already Rini!

Love,

Bunny

And,

The Sailor Scouts

"Well, that's Bunny alright," Raye said, "she's the only one person I know who could spell, "scouts" wrong."

The other girls agreed in unison.

"Oh you guys are so mean!" Serena shouted.

Téa, Yugi, and Rebecca stared at them like they were crazy.

"What, this?" Lita said, holding the letter. "Oh, these are just cheats to my new game!"

"Yeah!" the other girls agreed.

_They're hiding something._ Téa thought suspiciously.

_Weirdoes. _Rebecca thought.

_Who are these girls? _Yugi thought, curious.

"Hey! Yugi! Téa!"

"Joey?" Amy said, surprised.

"Amy?"

"Raye?"

"Duke?"

"Tristan?"

"Lita?"

"Ahh, if only my sunshine were here!" Mina sang.

"Wait," Yugi asked, confused, "you guys met each other already?"

"I guess so." Tristan answered.

"Okay, I'm officially confused." Téa said.

"Well, that makes two of us sister!" Serena laughed.

"So Yugi," Rini started, "why are you here? At this shop, I mean."

"This is my grandpa's shop Rini." Yugi answered.

"Really?" Raye asked, "You mean your grandpa sells games?"

"Well yeah," Yugi said, "but mostly Duel Monster cards."

"Duel Monsters? I've never heard of it!" Rini said.

Serena quickly covered Rini's mouth. "What my little sister means is that she's never played it before!"

"No, I mean…" Rini protested.

"Duel Monsters wasn't the most popular game back in Tokyo!" Mina said, laughing, thinking of Sailor-V.

"Yes, but we'd love to learn!" Amy chimed in.

"Well why don't we go inside?" Yugi suggested eagerly, "And teach you!"

"Oh we wouldn't want to impose!" Lita said.

"No impose!" Tristan exclaimed. "I'm not busy!"

"Yeah, me neither!" Joey added.

"What?!" Rebecca protested. She didn't like the idea of her Yugi hanging out with this Rini girl one bit.

"Yeah, let's go in!" Téa urged, hoping to lose Rebecca.

"What do you say Rini?" Yugi asked, his eyes pleading.

Rini stared into his wide eyes, her heart beating fast. _What is this feeling?_ She thought.

"Well…," she started, "okay!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Grandpa?" Yugi said, opening the door. "I brought some new friends!"

"Yugi!" his grandpa called out from behind the desk, "come on in my boy! And bring your new friends too!"

"Grandpa this is Rini, Serena, Raye, Amy and Lita. They just moved here from Japan and they'd like to learn how to play Duel Monsters."

"If it's not too much trouble." Rini said shyly.

"No trouble at all!" Mr. Muto said cheerfully. Then he noticed Rebecca, hiding behind Yugi. "Rebecca!" he exclaimed, "How's your grandpa doing?"

"He's doing fine thanks." Rebecca said curtly, clinging to Yugi.

"Hey Gramps, is it okay if we teach them how to duel in here?" Joey asked.

"Of course." Mr. Muto said, "I'll close down the shop."

Mina looked through the glass displays. "Wow," she breathed, "these cards are beautiful."

"Thank you dear," Yugi's grandfather said, "Please feel free to choose whatever you like!"

Suddenly Mina's cheeks flared bright red. She smiled sheepishly then said, "Sorry sir, but I'm afraid I don't have any money."

"What? Why not?" Raye asked.

"Well from buying all of these," Mina explained, holding up her bag of toys. "Actually I'm sort of in debt."

"After one day?" Lita said, incredulous.

"How's that?" Téa asked.

"I…uh, sort of had a run in with Seto Kaiba. Turns out I broke his window!"

"Yeah! Way to go!" Joey cried, giving Mina a high-five.

"Joey!" Amy scolded, smiling.

"So," Tristan started, "you ran into Evil itself. What'd you think?"

"Actually," Mina said, winking, "I'd call him a regular Raye of sunshine!"

"Yeah," Duke said sarcastically, "that's Kaiba for you."

"Man I hope you got that rich boy good!" Joey said, still happy about Kaiba's downfall.

"What did he say?" Yugi asked.

"Not much." Mina shrugged, "His brother did most of the talking for him."

"Yugi," Téa said, "do you think Kaiba will be at Pegasus' tournament?"

"I don't know Téa," Yugi said warily. "I hope not."

"I doubt he will though," Tristan said.

"Yeah after what happened with Mokuba and all." Duke added.

"Guess we better get started." Yugi said, turning back to Rini.

"C'mon, let's go in the living room." Téa said, opening the door for all of them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Now I'll activate Jar of Greed!" Rini said.

"Sorry Rini," Yugi interrupted, "you can't do that."

"What? I can't?"

"Nope, see, you have to set the Trap first then wait one turn before activating it."

"Does that go for Magic cards too?"

"No, you can activate them during your turn."

Rebecca Hawkins was leaning again the sofa, watching Yugi teach Rini how to play Duel Monsters.

"I really hope you're not planning on going to Duelist Kingdom next week Rina." Rebecca said stiffly.

"It's Rini. And why not?"

"Do you really think you can master the game of Duel Monsters in less than a week?"

"You're right." Rini said sadly, hanging her head.

Yugi put his hand over hers. Rini looked up, surprised.

"Don't listen to her Rini," he said, "Remember, Joey was just as inexperienced as you and he almost won at Duelist Kingdom!"

"Hey! I heard that!" Joey shouted from where he was helping Amy.

"Do you really think I have a chance Yugi?"

Yugi nodded. "Absolutely. And to prove it, I'm going to give you this."

Rebecca gasped as Yugi gave Rini his Marshmallon card.

"Oh it's so cute!" Rini exclaimed.

"It may look weak," Yugi explained, "but it's a powerful card."

"Thank you Yugi, I'll take good care of it!"

"I know you will Rini." Yugi said.

"Make room everyone!" Lita called out, carrying in an enormous cake and a platter of cookies.

"That looks delicious Lita!" Tristan said.

Lita blushed. "This? Oh it's nothing really. I just whipped it up from the ingredients I bought at that bakery!"

"Ohh, let me try some!" Serena said, preparing to jab her fork into the cake.

"Serena!" Raye scolded, batting her hand away. "Don't be such a pig!"

Serena scowled at her.

As Lita started to cut them each a slice of cake, Joey spoke up.

"So," he started, "are you girls going to Duelist Kingdom or not?" although he mostly wanted to know what Amy thought.

Amy sighed, holding a cup of tea in her hands. "It would be really fun Joey, it would, but…"

"This brainiac would hate to miss school!" Serena finished for her.

"But she probably is talking about you," Rini said, "don't want to bring another 30 home now, do we?"

"Nobody asked you." Serena muttered.

"But it's not like we haven't missed school before." Lita pointed out, "Now why would this Pegasus guy hold a tournament if he didn't think kids were going to skip school?"

"I guess you're right." Amy said.

"So does that mean you all are going?" Téa asked.

"Well…"

"Please," Téa suddenly begged, "you can't possibly imagine the stress I feel hanging out with a bunch of guys. I need some female friends!"

"Okay, okay we'll go!" Amy said, laughing.

Everyone cheered.

"We better get going," Raye said, checking her watch, "it's getting really late!"

As everyone was saying their goodbyes, Rini turned to Yugi. "Thanks again for the card." She said shyly.

"Don't mention it." Yugi replied.

Rini quickly gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Bye Yugi!" Rini said.

Yugi gave a slow wave, his cheeks red.

"Who does that girl think she is?!" Rebecca seethed. "How dare she lay a finger on my Yugi!"

"Looks like you got some competition pipsqueak!" Joey laughed, mussing her hair.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled after him.

Téa stood in the doorway with Yugi. _That's weird. _She thought. _How come I get so jealous when Rebecca flirts with Yugi, but not Rini?_ Téa shook the thoughts from her head and went back inside.

But Yugi still stood in the doorway, putting his hand on his cheek, staring after the mysterious girl.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wow Rini," started Serena, "didn't know you had it in you!"

"Had what?" Rini asked innocently.

"Oh don't act like you don't know!" Raye smiled.

"You like him don't you?" Mina teased.

"I do not!" Rini lied. Then she turned serious, "What is this feeling you guys?"

"Why this is your first crush Rini!" Lita said, "Congratulations!"

"How does it feel Rini?" asked Amy.

"It's a warm, fuzzy feeling," Rini explained, "like when I do something really good. But…why doesn't Rebecca like me?"

"Do you remember how Serena first reacted when you hung around with Darien?" asked Raye.

"Yeah." Rini answered.

"Well that's called jealousy kiddo!" Mina said.

"I do not get jealous!" Serena yelled.

"Of course not Serena." Amy giggled.

"So," Raye breathed, "did everybody get the art of dueling?"

Everybody groaned.

"I'm going to get creamed at that tournament!" Lita moaned.

"At least you have cards!" Mina laughed, "I don't even have a deck yet!"

"Hey, it's not our fault you broke that rich guy's window!"

"Actually," Mina disagreed, "it is, because I bought a toy for each of you. The money that could have been paid to fix his window."

"Yeah, all eleven dollars of it." Rini mumbled.

"Well, actually, the toys cost six dollars in total!" Mina laughed.

"When is this bus going to stop?" Serena complained. "These seats are so uncomfortable!"

"Don't worry Serena," Amy assured her, "my father's house is just around the corner."

Amy's dad had bought them the first available house in Domino City once he heard that Amy and her friends would be attending school here.

"Wow." Rini breathed.

"Your daddy's got a big house." Serena mumbled.

"Well, if it's to house six people it should be pretty big!" Amy defended herself.

"What's wrong Rini?" Mina asked.

"It looks," Rini started, "it looks like Hotaru's house."

"Oh, I'm sorry Rini." Raye said.

"I'm sure we'll see her again." Lita assured her.

"Yes," Amy agreed, "but right now we have to get a good night's sleep. And start packing for Duelist Kingdom!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mina was walking through Domino City (once again) this time having no money to spend.

"I need to get a job." Mina sighed. She stopped and realized that she had stopped right in front of KaibaCorp. _Maybe he'll give me a job,_ Mina thought, _after all he loves me!_

"Yoo hoo, hello?" Mina called out. The hallways were dark and empty and there was not a person in sight.

"Well this is pleasant," Mina mumbled to herself. She took the elevator up a few levels and then stepped out. There seemed to be only one set of doors in the hallway and Mina thought it was the place to apply for a job.

Mina quietly crept into the room and took a look around.

"Oh this is an office." She said, surprised. It was huge, with a large desk in front of a wall of windows overlooking Domino City. There were papers that were neatly stacked on to the desk and a wide flat screen TV on the opposite end of the room.

"Maybe when I get a promotion, I'll get perks as nice as these!"

"What are you doing here?"

Mina froze, afraid. Then relaxed when she recognized the voice.

"Oh hey sunshine!" she greeted, skipping toward him.

"This is my office." Kaiba said, "And you have no business in being here."

"I know, I know but I wondered if maybe I could get a job? You know, to pay for your window of course."

"So let me get this straight," Kaiba started, "you want me to give you a job, pay you with my own money, so you can pay for my window."

"Well if you want to get technical about it…"

"Please leave."

"Wait, wait!" Mina said urgently, as Kaiba had his hands on her shoulders, about to push her out the door. "I also need the money to buy Duel Monster cards."

Seto froze at this. "What do you need them for?"

"To make a deck of course!" she explained, "I'm going to enter the Duelist Kingdom tournament with Yugi and his friends…and my friends!"

This made Kaiba smile deviously. He sat down at his desk and put his hands together. "So Yugi Muto is going to enter Pegasus' tournament. Can't say I'm surprised."  
"Oh, you and he are friends?" Mina asked, sitting on top of his desk, her legs crossed.

"I wouldn't call it that." Seto said dryly.

"So yeah, I learned how to duel today," Mina continued, "at Yugi's game shop. But I couldn't make a deck because I didn't have money to buy cards because I spent them on my toys and…"

Kaiba put his hand up, stopping her. "Enough said. I'll give you cards for free." He took out his silver suitcase, opening it to reveal hundreds of cards.

"So let me get this straight," Mina started, "you're going to give me cards for free, so that I can make a deck, while I still owe you money for your window?"

"If you want to get technical about it." Kaiba said, handing her a few cards.

"Awesome!" she exclaimed. "I like this one!" she held up Petit Angel. "Isn't he cute?"

"You would like that one." Kaiba muttered.

"You mean I can have it?" Mina asked eagerly.

"I don't even know why I have it."

"Can I have this one?" Mina held up a card called Sage's Stone.

"Are you planning on having a Dark Magician?" Kaiba asked, angry at the sound of Yugi's favorite card.

"No. Why?"

"Because it's used to Special Summon Dark Magician genius." Kaiba said. "You can't just choose random cards," he explained, "certain cards go with other cards, they're not just there to look at."

"I think these are my favorite," Mina said, holding up Shining Friendship, Petit Angel, Tenderness, and Happy Lover.

"Then take them." Kaiba muttered, busily typing on his laptop.

"Wow, thanks!" she said. Then she looked at Seto and his laptop. She crept up behind him resting her head on the back of his chair. "What'cha doing sunshine?"

"Constructing blueprints to set up KaibaLands across the world."

For a moment Mina was quiet, which got Kaiba suspicious. Then she said, "Seto," she started, for the first time addressing him by his first name.

"Hmm?"

"Did you always want to be the owner of a big corporation?"

Kaiba gave a dark chuckle. "Does it matter?"

Mina stood up. "Yes, it does. If doing this has never been your dream then it means you're not truly happy."

"But Mokuba is," Kaiba muttered.

"What?"

"I said Mokuba is," he turned to her, "when we were little, I promised him that I would build KaibaLand, a place where people can duel and be happy. KaibaCorp just came with it."

"That was nice of you." Mina said quietly.

"Whatever." Seto mumbled, turning back to his work.

Mina went back to sitting on top of the desk, looking through her cards. "Why is Blue Eyes your favorite card?" she asked suddenly, turning to him.

"Because it's powerful and rare," Kaiba answered automatically.

"Can I see it?"

Seto looked up from his work. Mina's blue eyes sparkled with curiosity. He reached for his deck and pulled out the legendary card. Then handed it to Mina.

She looked at it carefully for a few moments then turned back to Kaiba. "You know sunshine," she started, "it looks like there's more to this monster then what's on the card."

"That so?" Seto said, uninterested.

"Yeah," Mina replied, ignoring his sarcasm. "It's like this Blue Eyes White Dragon has a past or something."

"And here I thought Yugi and his geek squad were weird."

Mina looked at a stack of Seto's papers and noticed something she hadn't noticed before. The paperweight, the one Mina had given him was sitting atop of the papers, keeping them in place. Mina didn't say anything, just smiled.

"Well, I think I've overstayed my welcome," Mina stated. "See you later sunshine, oh, and thanks for the cards!" As she ran through the automatic sliding doors, Mokuba walked past her.

"How long has she been here?" Mokuba asked.

Kaiba shook his head. "Too long." He stood up and looked out the window, looking over Domino City and he saw Mina skipping happily along the sidewalk. He turned to Mokuba.

"What?" Mokuba asked.

"Pack your bags. We're going to Duelist Kingdom." Kaiba answered.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Is everything set?" Pegasus barked from the balcony, looking down at the long table set for the coming duelists.

"Everything's ready sir." Hans stated.

"Everything? The music? Lights? Food?"

"Yes sir."

"Hmm…" Pegasus started, "I didn't think you were all that useful." He paused, and then asked, "Did you remember to personally call Yugi Muto?"

Hans froze, his cheeks flushed red. "Uh…"

"Oh must I do everything myself!" Pegasus groaned, heading back to his room. He picked up the phone and dialed Yugi's number.

"Hello?"

"Yugi boy!" Pegasus cried out cheerfully.

"Pegasus."

"I hope you're ready to come to Duelist Kingdom. I've got your tickets right here, ready to mail them to you. Oh and don't worry, I added extras for your little friends too."

Pegasus heard no response from the other line and he prepared himself for an argument.

"Actually Pegasus," Yugi started, "I think I'm going to need a few more tickets."

Pegasus almost dropped the phone, surprised. He hadn't been expecting this. He thought Yugi was going to refuse his offer, not show up at Duelist Kingdom at all. But here he was asking for more tickets!

_Don't jinx this._ Pegasus thought to himself. Then he answered, "Of course Yugi boy, as many as you need!"

"I need six more."

"My, my, my," Pegasus clucked, "seems like you've sprouted into a social butterfly. Do not fret my boy, consider it already taken care of. So, how many is that in total? Just to make sure."

It took Yugi a moment to count all the people.

"Twelve." He finally answered.

"Excellent! See you next week!"

"Oh, and Pegasus?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks."

"No, Yugi," Pegasus said, "thank you."


	3. Ch 3: Duelist Kingdom

"Wow Yugi," Rini said, handing her bags to one of the security guards. "I still can't believe you got every single one of us tickets!"

"Yes, my Yugi is amazing!" Rebecca cooed, throwing her arms around his neck. "Aren't you Yugi?"

"It was nothing really," Yugi explained, blushing, "actually, Pegasus seemed really happy to give them."

"Of course he was," Joey said, "more pawns for him to collect."

"Which includes you." Téa pointed out.

"Hehe, yeah I guess so." Joey laughed.

"Wow this island is huge!" Lita remarked, observing the endless maze of trees around her.

"And the ocean is absolutely gorgeous!" Mina added. "It's practically sparkling!"

"We should go swimming later!" Serena said.

"Funny how such a beautiful place can hold so many bad memories," Tristan muttered.

"Let's just try to make the best out of this alright?" Duke said.

"Yeah, this is supposed to be fun remember?" Téa added.

Yugi nodded. "Right."

"Why are all of the duelists crowded over there?" Raye pointed to an area where the majority of the duelists were.

"Let's go check it out." Duke said.

When they reached the other duelists they noticed what all the commotion was about. Up in the sky was Seto Kaiba's Blue Eyes Jet, slowly descending on to the ground. Everyone scattered to make room.

The roof of the jet opened and Kaiba jumped out of it, followed by Mokuba.

"Figures those two would show up." Tristan mumbled.

"Yeah, and in a fancy shmancy jet too." Joey added.

"There's my sunshine!" Mina called out, waving. She ran up to the two of them. "Hi guys!"

"Hey Mina," Mokuba said, dragging his older brother's suitcase.

"I didn't think you would show your face here." Kaiba smirked.

"I told you I was going to be here didn't I?"

"Whoa, when did this all happen?" Serena whispered to Raye.

"Shh! Quiet!" Raye hissed.

Kaiba turned to Yugi and his friends. "Yugi." He said, nodding.

Yugi nodded back to him. "Kaiba."

"Hey rich boy!" Joey yelled at him, "I'm here too you know!"

"Yes," Kaiba started, "only I wish you weren't."

"Whaaat?!?!" Joey screamed. "How 'bout we settle this right now, like men?"

"Joey," Amy said, putting a hand on his shoulder, restraining him.

"You should get a leash for the mutt," Kaiba told her. She glared at him.

"Well," Mina started laughing, "aren't we just one big happy family!"

"Ay look it's Wheeler!"

Joey turned around. "Valon!"

"And Raphael and…" Yugi started.

"Alister." Kaiba finished for him.

"It's been a long time, mate," Valon said, grasping Joey's hand.

"I'll say it has." A voice said.

"Mai?!" Téa exclaimed.

"The one and only!" she greeted. "Didn't think I'd be seeing you all this soon. How are you Yugi? Joey?"

"I'm fine Mai." Yugi said.

"Yeah, same here."

"Wow," Tristan said, shaking his head, "this is like a family reunion."

"If you consider those two dweebs your family," Raphael said, pointing to Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood.

"Ugh, not those two creeps." Téa groaned.

"Well, I just passed Bakura if you're looking for him." Mai told them.

"We should see how he's doing." Tristan said, and Duke nodded.

"Boy, this brings back a lot of memories, doesn't it Yug?" Joey asked, smiling.

"It sure does Joey." Yugi agreed.

"Oh this is just so sweet you all look like one big happy family!" Serena cried, unable to hide her tears of joy.

"Serena you're so embarrassing," Raye mumbled.

"Aw, give her a break Raye." Lita told her.

"Attention all Duelist Kingdom contestants," one of Pegasus' workers said over a loudspeaker, "all duelists should report to the dining room for a feast and for the discussion over the tournament rules. We'll be starting in fifteen minutes."

"Awesome! Feast!" Tristan and Joey yelled.

"Humph." Kaiba said, "It's a wonder that Pegasus would let a bunch of geeks like you come here. But then again, Yugi wouldn't have it any other way. You're lucky you're friends with him."

"Why I ought to…" Joey started, but Kaiba had already walked off.

"I still don't get why you call him 'sunshine' Mina." Rini said, watching the most serious person she's ever seen and his little brother walk away.

Mina shrugged. "To each his own."

"Well we should be heading inside." Amy said, "We don't want to miss the feast."

"Yeah let's go." Yugi replied.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The dining room was breathtaking. There was a table that could hold over a hundred people. Not to mention a crystal chandelier as big as the moon and just as bright too. There could have been enough food to end world hunger with exquisite quality too.

Everyone sat down, waiting for Pegasus to arrive. They all had dressed up although Serena was fidgeting in her itchy dress and just couldn't keep still.

"Stop that!" Raye hissed.

"I can't!" Serena whimpered.

"Guys, shh! Listen." Lita said. The whole room grew quiet as beautiful music started to play. A violin, accompanied by the piano and clarinet fit together to play beautiful music.

"Where is that coming from?" Serena asked, as she turned around in her seat. She then gasped. "Guys look!"

Her friends turned to see in the far corner of the room, the ones playing the instruments were Michelle, Trista, and Hotaru dressed so elegantly you could barely recognize them.

"Hotaru!" Rini squealed.

Valon let out a long slow whistle. "She's a cutie," he said.

"How do you know them?" Yugi asked.

"They're our friends!" Mina laughed waving to them. They each gave a small wave back, never once missing a beat.

"They're so talented," Téa breathed.

But the music ended too soon as everyone stood up and clapped for them. They gave a graceful curtsy and then went over to join their friends.

"Hotaru!" Rini cried, jumping out of her seat into her friend's arms, not caring about being a lady.

"Hi Rini!" She said, hugging her back.

"But…how…" Amy started, the last time they saw Hotaru, she was a baby, now she looked as old as them.

"We'll explain later," Trista whispered, taking a turn to hug Rini. "Hello small lady, and how are you?"

"I'm great Trista!" Rini answered happily.

"Michelle, where's Amara?" Serena asked. Those two were always together but today, for some reason, they weren't.

Michelle smiled sadly. "She's still in Japan, pursuing her dream to become a race car driver."

"I'm sorry Michelle." Mina said.

Michelle shook her head. "Don't be. It's what she always wanted. I was silly to think we could be together forever. I'm attending the school of arts right here in the U.S." Michelle's dream was to become a famous painter and musician, which would be easy for her, since she was great at both.

"And I'm in design school." Trista offered, who wanted to be a fashion designer.

"Hotaru sit by me!" Rini called out, offering her a seat. That Serena just happened to be sitting in.

"Um, excuse me, but I'm sort of sitting here!" Serena protested.

"So? Move!" Rini said, trying to push her off.

"Stop bickering you two!" Hotaru laughed.

"You can sit by me, love." Valon said, gesturing to an empty seat beside him, which conveniently happened to be across from Rini.

"Thank you." Hotaru said quietly, sitting down next to him. Michelle took a seat beside Alister, and Trista, beside Raphael.

For the first few minutes everyone began to chatter happily until they heard the sound of a fork against a wine glass. It was Pegasus.

Everyone immediately stopped and turned their attention to him.

Except for a select few.

"Joey! Tristan!" Téa yelled at them, who had already started slurping down their soup.

"Serena!" Raye yelled, who had also began eating. Rather messily Raye might add.

"Sorry." Joey, Tristan and Serena mumbled, their cheeks filled with soup.

Hotaru giggled as Valon turned to her.

"Got a crazy friend there." He said.

"As do you." She replied.

Valon grinned at her before Pegasus started to speak.

"Welcome duelists across the globe!" he started. And as he was going on, Hotaru started to sweat. Her head throbbed and she was shivering. _Stop it!_ She hissed at herself._ Not now! Not while Rini is so happy! _She looked across the table to see Rini with a huge smile on her face. She met Hotaru's gaze and grinned at her.  
Hotaru gave a weak smile back. But that couldn't stop her shivering.

"Are you alright love?" Valon asked, placing a hand on her thin, fragile arm.

She shrugged it off and hugged herself tightly. _Uh-oh. _She thought. She was starting to cough uncontrollably. She couldn't keep it quiet for long.

"I just need some fresh air," she said hoarsely and she quickly ran off outside.

"Hotaru?" Rini said worriedly getting up to go over after her.

"She'll be back." Trista said, placing a hand to stop her. "She's fine." _At least…I hope so._

"Got to use the bathroom," Valon said all of a sudden, as he got up and left the table.

Michelle and Trista exchanged a glance at each other from across the table.

Mina, who was sitting next to Kaiba, caught there little exchange. _What are they hiding from us?_

She leaned in her seat, and kicked Serena in the leg, determined to get her attention.

But unfortunately, it wasn't Serena she had kicked.

"Ouch!" Kaiba hissed at her, "What did you do that for?"

"Sorry." She whispered, and then slumped in her seat, hoping not to cause any more trouble.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hotaru stumbled out into the open, and leaned against the castle-like walls, letting her coughs take over her. _I knew this could never go away, _she thought bitterly, _I'm a monster._

"Hotaru?"

She recognized that voice. It was Valon. _What's he doing out here? _Hotaru leaned farther into the shadow, in order to avert his gaze.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay love!" he called out, looking around. And then he spotted her. "There you are."

"Please go away," she whimpered quietly, "I just need to be alone."

"Are you okay?" he asked gently, putting a hand to her forehead. Hotaru relaxed. It was so cool against her hot forehead.

"You're burning up!" he exclaimed.

Hotaru couldn't say anything, she was too dizzy. Her heart started to beat faster, and then everything started to go all fuzzy. She let out a soft cry as she fell into Valon's arms.

"Oh no!" he gasped.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hotaru! Hotaru please wake up!" Rini cried, shaking her. Hotaru was lying in Pegasus' room, unconscious.

"She's going to be just fine Rini," Amy said, putting a wet cloth over Hotaru's forehead, "she just fainted that's all."

"Just fainted!" Valon yelled, who was leaning against the wall, now suddenly alert. "People just don't fall to the ground mate!" Valon could still remember what he saw when he found Hotaru, she looked so helpless, just like…just like Mai did.

"Well this person does," Trista said stiffly, "so mind your own business!"

"No need to get catty," Alister said.

"You don't know Hotaru like we do," Michelle explained.

"Well, this sure has been an eventful evening." Pegasus proclaimed, drinking his wine.

"Let's try to calm down everyone," Raye urged them. Gesturing toward Rini and Rebecca.

"Yeah, it's been a rough night," Lita agreed, then added, "Rini I think you should get some rest."

"I can't," Rini said, determined, "not until I know that my friend is okay."

"You seem to have quite a connection with this girl." Raphael commented.

Rini nodded. "Yeah, she's my best friend. And I would hate to lose her again." The girls looked at each other, wide eyed. Rini had said too much.

"What do you mean, again, Rini?" Pegasus asked, suspicious.

Rini felt her cheeks burn. "Um…nothing." She said quietly.

"She means when Hotaru moved away," Serena explained, for once quick to thinking, "Rini was devastated then."

"Oh yeah, uh-uh." The other girls agreed.

Pegasus eyed them suspiciously, but kept quiet.

Suddenly everyone froze as Hotaru was coming to. She slowly opened her eyes to see Rini's tear-streaked face above her.

"Rini!" Hotaru immediately sat up, concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Oh Hotaru!" Rini cried, grabbing her in an embrace. "I was so worried about you!"

Hotaru then remembered what had happened. The coughing. Being excused. Valon. Hotaru froze. Valon. _This is all his fault! _She thought, glaring at him. _If he had just left me alone, Rini wouldn't be so upset!_

Valon flinched, thrown off by Hotaru's glare.

"Looks like you've made a new enemy," Raphael smirked.

"Nice going Einstein," Alister added, "it looks like she hates you."

"But…why?" Valon asked, confused. "All I did was help her."

"Have you ever thought that maybe she didn't want any help?" Raphael questioned.

"Yeah," Alister chimed in, "just like Mai?"

Valon kept quiet. He didn't know how to respond to that.

"Raphael's right Valon," Mai said, who had crept up behind them.

"Mai!" Valon exclaimed, surprised.

"You're sweet," she started, placing a hand on his arm, "but dumb. I know you just want to help her, but sometimes people need to figure things out on their own. Besides," she then added, pointing her finger at Rini and the others who were swarming over Hotaru, "I think she's in pretty good hands."

"Alright everybody!" Pegasus said, clapping his hands to get their attention. "Because of this little incident I'll postpone the starting of the tournament until after breakfast! Now everyone get to bed! You all need your beauty sleep. As do I."

"You don't have to do that." Hotaru said quietly.

But Pegasus ignored her.

As everyone started to walk out of Pegasus' room, Pegasus brushed his fingers over one of Serena's meatballs.

"Hmm…" he murmured, "interesting hairstyle."

"Uh…thanks!" Serena said, quickly walking out.

Valon turned to his friends. After most everyone had left.

"Maybe I should apologize to her," Valon suggested, "even though I didn't really do anything."

Alister groaned. "Can't you just accept the fact that she doesn't like you?"

But before Valon could make a comeback, both Trista and Michelle came before them.

Raphael rose on of his eyebrows.

"You," Trista said, pointing a finger at Valon, "stay away from Hotaru."

"She's none of your concern." Michelle added, glaring.

"Hey now wait a minute," Alister started, "Valon can talk to Hotaru if he wants to!"

Valon was confused, since Alister had just told him only moments before that he shouldn't.

"We'll see about that," Michelle said through clenched teeth, and then they both gracefully walked away.

"Well," Raphael commented, "that was pleasant."

"Seems like you're making more enemies then friends Valon," Mai laughed.

"It's like everyone is against me!" Valon complained, "And I didn't even do anything!"

"Maybe it's best if you stay away from that Hotaru girl." Raphael told him, "She's probably nothing but trouble."  
"Trouble," Valon said, grinning, "is my middle name." And he stared after Hotaru, who was being pulled away by Rini.

As the last few people left the room, Pegasus closed the door. Then he stared out his window, looking up at the silver moon.

_That hair, _he thought, _those eyes. No. No it can't be. She's much too clumsy. But then again, anything's possible._

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"Okay spill!" Mina ordered Michelle and Trista. All of the girls were gathered around in one of the special rooms Pegasus had provided them. She sat down on the bed and crossed her arms.

"OW!" Serena yelped, who had been trying to sleep. "Can't they spill tomorrow!" she pleaded, "Or at least in another room! I'm trying to sleep!"

"Hotaru," Rini started sadly, "why are you keeping secrets?"

"Yeah," Lita added, "the last time we saw you was when you were a baby."

"And now you're seventeen?" Raye said skeptically.

"Hotaru!" Rini said to her, who hadn't said a word. Hotaru was sitting quietly in a chair, staring down at her hands.

"What I don't understand is the fact that you're still sick." Amy murmured, confused. "When you were reborn, you were as healthy as any other child."

"Then something happened," Michelle said quietly.

The other girls leaned forward, intent.

"We don't know why," Trista started, "but for some reason she started getting sick again. The doctors said that her body was too small for her organs and she had a hard time breathing. Hotaru wasn't going to last very long."

"And then?" Rini asked, clasping Hotaru's hand.

Trista sighed. "One day, while Dr. Tomoe was staying at home taking care of his daughter, I came in."

For a moment they didn't understand.

"As Sailor Pluto," Serena breathed, shocked.

"I told him I knew how to help her," she continued, "he said he didn't care what I did, or who I was, only if I could get his daughter back." She took a deep breath. "So, I forwarded time, only for her, and then her body started to grow according to her organs, which got her functioning correctly again."

"Then what happened today?" Rini cried.

"She's still a little sick Rini," Michelle explained, "Trista only prevented her from dying, she didn't cure her."

"But I'm getting better," Hotaru reassured them all, trying to convince herself as well.

Although all the girls were doubtful.

"Well," Mina started, jumping off of Serena's bed, "I think I'm going to hit the sack."

The others nodded in agreement.

"Wait," Serena said to Hotaru, grabbing her arm.

"Serena?" she responded, confused.

"I think that Valon guy might have a crush on you." Serena giggled, winking, "you should give him a chance."  
Hotaru jerked her arm out of Serena's grasp, and then stormed out of the room.

"You're a regular cupid Serena," Luna groaned, sprawled out at the end of her bed.

"Luna!" Serena cried, surprised, "When did you get here?"

"I was always here you meatball head! I just didn't get the chance to talk that's all. I'm pretty sure these duelists aren't used to seeing a talking cat."

"You'll see," Serena yawned, "I'm going to get those two together."

"Of course you are."

Serena laughed, then she yawned. "G'night Luna."

"Good night Serena." Luna whispered, but she had already fallen asleep.

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"Did you get a good night's sleep Rini?" Yugi asked, as everyone walked back toward the dining room for breakfast.

"Mmm…sort of." She answered, still thinking about last night, about Hotaru.

_She's probably still worried about her friend._ Yugi thought, noticing her face fall.

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Atop of the highest mountain on Duelist Kingdom sat the Aviators, new enemies of the Sailor Scouts. They were looking down at the people below them, people that were soon to be their new victims.

"Look at them," Cardinal spit, "pathetic."

"Capturing their spirits is going to be a piece of cake!" Blue Jay laughed, her hair bobbing up and down.

"Don't get your hopes up yet," Hummingbird called out from inside the cave. The other two turned to her, confused.

"Some of these duelists are very resourceful," Hummingbird continued, "do not underestimate our enemies."

"Oh you worry too much," Cardinal said, lying down on the ground.

"She's right you know."

"Master Dove!" the Aviators sat up straight, awaiting their leader.

A man with a white aura around him was floating above ground, staring down at his loyal servants.

"That one down there," he said, pointing at Yugi Muto, "has been through a lot. None of this is new to him."

"Yeah, but remember Master," Cardinal argued, "he had the Pharaoh with him. Now that he's gone, he's just a frightened child."

"Are you questioning my authority?" Dove barked.

"Shut up Cardinal!" Blue Jay hissed.

"N-no of course not sir." She quickly said, bowing her head in shame.

"Good," he said, "but we're going to need a little more than four people to capture the spirits of all these duelists."

"Don't worry," Hummingbird assured him, "our minions will take care of them."

"Actually I was thinking that with Mistress 9 and Wicked Lady on our side, we can't fail."

"That's a devious duo," Blue Jay grinned.

"It would put the Sailor Scouts in their place!" Cardinal agreed, laughing wickedly.

"But Master Dove," Parakeet started, who had just dropped in, "what do we need all of these spirits for anyway?"

"Can't you pay attention to anything?" Dove barked at her. "If I told you once I've told you a thousand times, the spirits in these humans are so powerful it will be used to energize our legendary Phoenix!"

He looked across the ocean, past the sun and into the sky and Dove sighed. "For thousands of years the Phoenix had been sealed away by these humans, said to be too powerful. Well, now these insolent humans will pay for what they did! They demean birds every singe day, tearing down their homes so they can build their shopping malls and homes! Well not anymore! Once the great Phoenix is reborn, the birds shall take over the Earth once again!"

The Aviators began to laugh wickedly, thrilled by their master's plan.

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"I hope you all are well rested!" Pegasus announced, holding up his glass of wine.

"Is there a time when this guy doesn't drink wine?" Raye muttered.

"I think he's cool!" Mina said laughing.

Everyone was sitting at the long table, eating their breakfast. Most people were uncomfortable since they were beginners, and felt out of place.

"Will you please pass the bread Mina?" Lita asked.

"Sure!" Mina was feeling extremely nervous and excited so she accidentally knocked over the water pitcher as she reached handing over the breadbasket, and water spilled across the table.

"Oh I'm so sorry!" she squealed, grabbing a cloth and started to wipe over everything. Mina began wiping Seto Kaiba's clothes too, since most of the water spilled on him.

Joey started to snicker. Seto gave him a look that could kill.

"Here you go Lita," she said, handing over the basket.

"Thanks." Lita mumbled, taking the now soggy bread.

Mina turned to Kaiba. "Don't worry sunshine, it's just water, it'll dry!"

"Course it will." Kaiba muttered under his breath.

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The tournament had officially begun, and everyone was scurrying about, trying to find someone to duel.

Valon looked up into the sky, startled.

"Something wrong?" Raphael asked, also looking up.

"Thought I saw something up there." He mumbled, shaking his head, "I must be going crazy mate."

"Yeah, crazy in love," Alister snickered.

"What?" Valon said, feigning shocked. Then he began to laugh, "I'm not in love. I'm just curious about that Hotaru girl, that's all."

"Sure you are." Raphael said.

"C'mon," Valon started, "let's stop talking and start dueling! Ay, Wheeler, you wanna duel?"

"Sure Valon!" Joey called out from where he was standing. "Yugi let's go." He turned to his friend.

Yugi nodded. Then he felt someone grasp his shoulder. He looked up, startled. It was Pegasus.

"And where do you think you're going Yugi boy?" he asked.

"We're going to duel wise guy!" Joey snapped, annoyed.

"Oh, I don't think so." He replied.

"Why not Pegasus?" Yugi asked, confused. "When you announced it on TV you said…"

"I said I'd be seeing you here," Pegasus explained, "I never said I wanted you to duel."

"Hold on," Kaiba said, angry, "you mean we came all the way out here for nothing?"

"No," Pegasus said slowly, "you just can't duel. But you can still watch."

"But why can't me and Kaiba duel?" Yugi asked.

"Because you two are too experienced! This tournament is meant for beginners like them!" Pegasus gestured to Serena and her friends.

"You mean I can't duel!" Joey said.

"Oh, I don't care if you duel." Pegasus mumbled.

"Whaaat!?" Joey yelled. "Hey, come back here you creep!"

But Pegasus had already started walking off.

"I'm really sorry you can't duel Yugi," Rini said, "but you can still…"

"Watch me duel pumpkin!" Rebecca squeaked, grabbing on to Yugi.

"Yeah," Yugi said, "I guess I need a break from dueling anyway."

"Hey sunshine!" Mina said to Kaiba, "How 'bout me and you duel?"

"Didn't you just hear Pegasus you moron!" Raye yelled, "He said that Yugi and Kaiba can't duel in the tournament!"

"I know but I wanna duel for fun!"

"Well I'm ready for my first duel!" Serena said, excited. She looked around, hoping to find her next victim. "You!" she yelled, pouncing on Rex Raptor. "Duel me!"

"Uh, Serena that's not exactly the best way to ask someone to duel," Téa said.

"Well it works for me!" Mina said. She jumped onto Weevil Underwood's back, "Hey squirt! You wanna duel?"

"So embarrassing." Raye muttered.

"Well let's watch!" Lita said. "This should be interesting."


	4. Ch 4: Serena vs Raptor

First it was Rex Raptor and Serena.

"Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're a pretty girl." Rex said, grinning.

"And don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're short!" Serena retorted.

They all started to laugh, and Rex went red with fury.

"Alright," he said, "prepare to be trampled by my dinosaurs!"

"Bring it!"

"Let's duel!" they boy said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I'll go first!" Serena told him, drawing a card from her deck.

"Serena!" Yugi called to her, who was watching from the sidelines, along with all his friends, "You have to have six cards in your hands when you start the duel!"

"Oh, thanks Yugi how could I forget that?" Serena said back, drawing another card from her deck.

"Ha!" Rex Raptor laughed, "This is going to be a piece of cake!"

"Ooh, just you wait!" Serena scowled at him, taking a look at her hand. She held a Mystical Elf, Dark Magician Girl, United We Stand, Gemini Elf and Enchanted Javelin.

"Sweet!" she exclaimed.

"You can beat this creep Serena!" Mina called out supportively from the side.

"Hey!" Rex protested, angry.

"This is a joke," Kaiba muttered.

"Shh! Sunshine!" Mina hissed, "Let's just watch!"

"Uh…" Serena started, "first I'll place this face-down," Serena said, placing her Enchanted Javelin onto her duel disk. "Then I'll summon a monster face down and end my turn!"

"So how's she doing so far Yugi?" Téa whispered.

"That was a solid first move," he commented, nodding in approval.

"Finally," Raptor groaned, "you people take forever!"

"Just go!" Serena yelled at him, impatient.

"All right, all right!" Rex muttered, "No need to have a cow." He grinned at his hand. "Now, get ready! Because I'm going to summon Uraby in attack mode!"

"Oh no!" Lita said, worried.

"Now Uraby," Rex said, "attack Serena's face-down monster!"

"Not so fast Rex!" Serena protested, "I'll activate my trap card, Enchanted Javelin!"

"Good move!" Tristan exclaimed.

"What's that do?" Rex asked.

"Uh…well," Serena stuttered, "I think it…oh yeah! I remember now! I gain Life Points equal to the attacking monster ATK points!"

"Which means…" Mokuba started.

"Serena gains 1500 Life Points." Kaiba finished.

"Fine." Rex mumbled, "But that doesn't stop my attack!" He continues with his attack only to find out that the facedown monster was Mystical Elf.

"Oh no!" Rex cried.

"Ha!" Serena shouted, "My Mystical Elf has 2000 DEF points, so you lose 500 Life Points!"

"We can do the math meatball head!" Raye shouted.

"Fine." Raptor mumbled, "I'll just place this face down then."

"Good!" Serena shot back. "My move!" Serena drew a card. It was Trap Hole. _This will come in handy later._

"Now I'll sacrifice my Mystical Elf, to summon Dark Magician Girl!"

"What?" Joey said, confused. "Yugi did you give her yours?"

Yugi shook his head, smiling. "Nope. Grandpa had an extra one."

"Oh she's so pretty!" Rini cooed.

"And now…" Serena continued, "I'll equip it with United We Stand! Which means…"

"I know it gains 800 ATK points for each monster on your side of the field!" Rex shouted irritated.

"Why won't you people let me finish?" Serena took a deep breath. "Okay. Dark Magician Girl, attack Uraby."

"No!" Rex said, losing 1300 Life Points.

"I'll put this face-down," Serena said, placing Trap Hole down, "and end my turn."

"Things are looking real good for her," Tristan commented.

"Yeah," Yugi agreed, "but it's not over yet."

"Excellent. Now I'll Summon Kaitoptera in Attack Mode!"

"Oh no you won't! Because I activate Trap Hole!"

"You're so predictable," Rex smirked, "activate Jurassic Heart!"

"Huh?" Serena asked.

"Let me explain this to you in terms you can understand," he started, "when you activate a Trap that targets a dinosaur monster, it negates the effect and destroys the card!"

"Oh no!" Serena gasped, watching Trap Hole get destroyed.

"And that's not all," he continued, "I'll now Special Summon Gilasaurus!" His face then turned grim. "Unfortunately when I do that you get to Special Summon one monster from your Graveyard."

"Well that's not too bad," Serena said, taking back her Mystical Elf and summoning it in defense position.

"Don't get too excited," Joey told her, "he might have something up his scrawny sleeve!"

"Oh well," Serena said, not worried, "my Dark Magician Girl is still stronger than your monster!"

"Maybe for now," he said. "I'll place this face-down and end my turn."

_What's he up to? _Serena wondered, suspicious.

"Well here I go!" _Ooh, _she thought, _this'll come in handy later._

"I'll summon Gemini Elf in Attack Position," Serena continued, "and now I'll attack your…Gilasaurus!"

"I don't think so!" Rex protested, "Because I'll activate Negate Attack, now you'll have to end you Battle Phase!"

"Then I'll end my turn," Serena muttered.

"Good! Now watch and learn because it's my move!" He grinned. "Now I'll sacrifice my Gilasaurus and Kaitoptera to summon Black Tyranno!"

"Serena's Dark Magician Girl is still stronger," Mina commented, confused, "it has 2700 ATK points."

"Don't be an idiot," Kaiba muttered, "Rex wouldn't sacrifice two of his monsters if he didn't have a plan."

"You got that right!" Rex said, "Because now I'll activate the Field Spell card, Gaia Power!"

"What does that do?" Lita asked.

"It increases all Earth type monsters by 500 points." Yugi said.

"Then that means his Black Tyranno is stronger than Serena's monster." Duke said.

"That's not good." Amy said.

"Now Black Tyranno," Rex continued, "attack her Dark Magician Girl!"

"Noooo!!!" Serena wailed. Now Rex has 2200 Life Points and Serena has 5100 Life Points.

"That's all for now!" Rex grinned, ending his turn.

"Okay," Serena said slowly, drawing Horn of the Unicorn. _All I have left is Gemini Elf, which is really no help so I shouldn't summon it now. _"I'll…end my turn." Serena said sadly.

"Bad move." Kaiba muttered.

"What if she couldn't do anything?" Téa snapped.

"Ha ha ha!" Rex Raptor laughed. "You're finished! I summon Giant Rex! Now Black Tyranno, attack her Life Points directly!"

"What?" Serena sputtered, "But what about my Mystical Elf?"

"What's going on Yugi?" Tristan asked.

"If all of Serena's monsters are in Defense Position," he explained, "then Black Tyranno can attack her Life Points directly."

"Oh poor Serena!" Rini cried.

"Aaaah!" Serena yelped.

"And since my Giant Rex gets a power boost from Gaia Power, it's stronger than you're Mystical Elf!"

"Ouch." Mina said sadly.

"She only has 2000 Life Points left!" Mokuba said.

"I hate to say this," Joey muttered, "but it looks like she's going to lose."

"Don't say that Joey!" Rini cried, "I know Bunny can make a comeback I just know it!"

"Believe in the heart of the cards Serena!" Yugi shouted.

"The what?" Serena asked, confused.

"Oh brother." Kaiba muttered.

_Okay._ Serena took a deep breath. _I can turn this around. All I have to do is draw the right card…_

_Pot of Greed? What does that do gain…?_

"Wait a minute…" Serena murmured, a shred of hope swelling within her.

"You're going down Rex!" Serena shouted, filled with confidence.

"What!?"

"Because now I'll activate the Spell card Pot of Greed! Now I draw two cards…" Serena drew her two cards, Yami and Mage Power. _Awesome! _She thought.

"Now I'll activate the Field Spell Card Yami, meaning Gaia Power gets destroyed!"

"No!" Rex screamed, all his monsters losing 500 ATK points.

"So now I'll summon my Gemini Elf which gets a 200 point boost from Yami. But I'm not done there! I'll equip it with Mage Power!"

"So now it gains 1000 more attack points!" Rebecca exclaimed.

"For a grand total of 3100 ATK points!" Serena squealed.

"I don't believe it," Raye muttered, "Serena may actually pull this off!"

"Yeah so you all should apologize to me right now!" she yelled at them.

"Just duel!" Raye snapped.

"Right." She nodded. "Gemini Elf attack his Black Tyranno!"

"Grrr…."

"Ha! Beat that you prehistoric jerk!" Serena screamed. Then she added cheerfully, "I'll end my turn!"

_Bet I can make a comeback too,_ Rex thought arrogantly. He drew his next card._ Ultra Evolution Pill? That's not going to help me! _

"Oh…," Rex groaned. "I'll switch my Giant Rex to Defense Mode and end my turn."

"My move!" Serena said, drawing her card. "Cool, now I'll summon my Pixie Knight in Attack Position!"

"Where'd you get that thing?" he muttered.

"That's for me to know," Serena started, "and for you to keep quiet! Now, Gemini Elf, attack his Giant Rex! Pixie Knight attack his Life Points directly!"

"Aaaah!" Rex only had 200 Life Points left.

"There's no way I can win!" he wailed, "I might as well just give up!" his hand reached over to place over his deck in surrender.

"Stop right there!" Serena shouted. "Just because things aren't looking good for you, doesn't mean you should quit! I thought I was going to lose too, but I didn't give up! Now finish this duel!" she demanded, "With dignity and respect!"

Rex nodded. "Okay Serena." He drew. "I'll activate Monster Reborn and reborn my Black Tyranno!"

"That's it Rex!" Serena encouraged him.

"Now Black Tyranno," he started, "Pixie Knight!"

"Great move Rex!" Serena lost 1100 Life Points, leaving her with only 900 left."

"I'll end my turn!" he grinned. "Go for it Serena!"

"Right!" Serena drew Rogue Doll. "Gemini Elf, attack his Black Tyranno!"

Rex braced himself against the attack and then added, "Thanks for the great duel Serena."

Serena nodded. "No, thank you Rex!" You're a great duelist you know!" she added, giving him a wink.

Rex's face went as red as a tomato.

The duel ended and all of the virtual simulations faded.

"Woo hoo!" Serena's friends cheered, gathering around her and showering her with hugs.

"That was an awesome duel Serena!" Yugi said, smiling.

"It was okay." Rebecca muttered.

"Not to mention your first duel!" Téa added.

"Yeah, way to go!" Tristan said.

"Okay," Mina said, taking a deep breath and turning to Weevil Underwood, "now it's my turn."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Now?" Parakeet asked, "Now can we go? I want to crush those puny little humans right now!"

"Chill out," Cardinal mumbled, "when Master Dove tells us to that's when."

"Yeah," Hummingbird agreed, "so cool your wings!"

The Aviators were just lounging around when Blue Jay swooped in.

"Just got word from Master Dove," she giggled, "he says we can start snatching those pests' spirits when we're ready!"

"Well I'm ready," Hummingbird said, filing her nails, "so let's go."

"Here," Blue Jay said suddenly, throwing them each card. "Take these. We'll need them."

"Huh?" Parakeet mumbled, staring at a Duel Monsters card. "What's this for?"

"This," Blue Jay explained, "is our ticket to their spirits."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Master Pegasus?" Hans said, entering Pegasus' room.

"Yes I know," he murmured, staring out his windows at the duelists below. "I've seen it myself. Unexplainable occurrences are appearing at any moment at any given time. Duelists are just dropping to the floor duel after duel. What I want to know is, why?" Pegasus stared accusingly at his employee.

"We don't know sir," he started, "but we're working on it."

"Well work faster!" he barked, "And keep it secret! I don't want duelists panicking, or worse, blaming it on me!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Did you hear?"

"About people just fainting for no reason?"

"They're not just fainting," another voice whispered, "people are saying that they won't wake up!"

A girl gasped. "I hope that doesn't happen to me!"

"Yugi," Rebecca whispered, "what are all of these people saying?"

"Aww they're just trying to scare you!" he answered.

"Well it's working!" Serena whined, cowering.

"How could this have happened!?!?!" Weevil Underwood cried. "I lose to a first time duelist!"

"That's right bug boy!" Mina laughed, "You just felt the wrath of my adorable fairies!"

"Nice job Mina." Joey nodded.

"Hey thanks Jo-…"

Everyone stopped in their tracks as they heard the shrieks of someone from deep inside the woods.

"W-what was that?" Rini gasped.

"C'mon, let's go check it out!" Raye said sprinting. The others followed after her.

Lying on the middle of the ground was Bakura, his face blank and his eyes wide in fear.

"Bakura!" Tristan said, leaning down to check his pulse.

"What happened?" Téa asked, shocked.

"He's breathing," Tristan finally said, and everyone let out a sigh of relief. "so why won't he wake up?"

"I don't know," Joey said, "but we can't just leave him here."

"Let's take him to Pegasus," Yugi told them all. Tristan nodded, lifting Bakura onto his back.

"Just like old times," he muttered. And they all started to run, back to Pegasus' castle.

"Where are you geeks running off to?" Kaiba muttered, surprised at their startled expressions.

"What happened to Bakura?" Mokuba asked, scared.

"Can't talk gotta run bye!" Mina shouted, running after her friends.

Mokuba turned to his older brother. "Should we check it out?" he asked.

"Let them figure out their own problems Mokuba," Kaiba smirked.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Pegasus!" Yugi shouted, opening doors in the huge mansion. "PEGASUS!"

"Yugi boy." Pegasus said, stepping out in front of them. "Oh." He suddenly whispered, when he saw Bakura. "Please come in." he ushered them all into his room and locked the door.

"All right what's going on ya creep!" Joey yelled, waving a fist at him.

"Down boy," Pegasus mumbled, unthreatened.

"Anyway," he continued, "I don't know exactly what's going on. But please don't tell anyone. Everyone would be in a panic if they found out."

"Oh, you mean like we are now?" Tristan asked.

"Why won't he wake up?" Rini questioned.

Pegasus sighed, placing his heads in his hands. "I don't know. Just leave him here. I'll figure it out, don't worry. In the mean time just act like nothing's happened."

"Because that's so easy." Téa mumbled.

Lita pulled Amy aside, away from the others. "Do you think it's a new enemy?" she whispered.

"I don't know," Amy whispered asked, "but it could be so stay alert."

"You guys got something to say?" Duke asked, eying them suspiciously.

"Oh!" Lita laughed. "Um…just telling Amy to keep an eye out for these people!"

Pegasus' head snapped up at this. "Wait, you mean you think that duelists are doing this to other duelists?"

"Like taking their souls?" Rebecca gasped.

"But I thought the Seal of Orichalchos was destroyed!" Téa protested. _The pharaoh destroyed it. _She added silently.

"Or stealing their heart crystals," Serena mumbled.

"Or they're dreams," Rini added.

"What are you two talking about?" Joey asked, stumbled.

Raye tugged one of Serena's meatballs. "Oh nothing!" she said, laughing it off, "They don't know what they're talking about!"

"If someone was doing this," Rebecca started thoughtfully, "then there'd be more than one of them. And I'm pretty sure they'd stand out too."

"Think we should start looking?" Mina asked.

"No," Yugi immediately said, "I don't want you guys to be in danger."

"You can't be serious!" Tristan groaned.

"Yeah, after all we've been through?" Téa added. "Don't you know us better by now?"

Everyone froze as they heard a knock at the door. Well, it was pounding actually.

"Don't break the door down," Raye mumbled.

"Pegasus!" Kaiba barked, "Get out here now!"

"We wanna know what's going on too!" Mokuba added.

Pegasus sighed. "Now everyone wants to know." He motioned for Mina to open the door.

"Oh hey sunshine!" she greeted. "What a surprise!"

He walked past her. "Alright Pegasus," he started, "no more games. What's going on?"

"There's our question of the day," Pegasus mumbled.

"And here's the answer," Joey finished, "WE DON'T KNOW!"

"Why doesn't that surprise me," Kaiba smirked.

"Alright Kaiba," Mina explained, "all we know is that duelists are going down one by one."

"We think some other duelists are causing it," Rebecca added.

"By stealing their spirits," Serena quietly said, who was leaning over Bakura.

Everyone turned to her.

"How do you know?" Yugi asked.

"I…I just do." She said. She turned her gaze back to Bakura. "His heart's still intact, I can still feel his soul. It's just…his spirit is gone."

"What's the difference?" Kaiba muttered.

"There is a difference," Amy said. "it's the principle conscious of life, meditating between the body and soul."

"Not this again."

"Well you don't have to get involved," Téa shot back.

"Yeah we'll handle it." Tristan agreed.

"Humph." He responded. "Let's hope so. C'mon Mokuba."

Mokuba quickly followed after his older brother.

"Grrrr…" Joey started, "that jerk! He just waltzes right in here and back out!"

"He's the least of our worries Joey." Yugi said.

"We're dealing with a new enemy." Rini added.

_We really need to work on what to say. _Amy thought.

"What enemies do you all have?" Tristan asked.

"You know we really need to get going!" Amy suddenly said, pushing her friends out the door. "We'll warn you if we see anything suspicious! Bye!"

"The only thing suspicious…is them." Rebecca said.

"Well we'll figure them out later," Yugi said, "right now we should figure out what happened to Bakura."

"Would you?" Pegasus pleaded, "It would mean so much to me!"

"Cool your jets," Joey said, "we're not doing this for you."

"We're doing it for our friend." Téa agreed.

"Well whatever," Pegasus responded, opening the door for them. "just be careful. And remember, not a word."

Everyone nodded in agreement, an awkward silence passing, the only sound being Bakura's ragged breathing.

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"You need to watch what you all say in front of them!" Amy scolded, once they were away from the others. "Just look at Artemis and Luna! They keep themselves in check! You could barely tell they were there!"

"Sorry." Rini mumbled. "It's just that I feel so close to them I can't help it."

"You mean so close to Yugi!" Serena giggled.

"And you too meatball head!" Raye screamed. "I don't care how close you two feel to them, we can't trust them! We've only know them for a few days and already you're telling about our enemies!"

"I won't do it again," Rini mumbled, wanting to drop the whole subject.

"It's fine." Luna said briskly. Everyone turned to stare at her. "We need to find out who this new enemy is. And put a stop to them."

"I don't know," Lita started, "I mean, what if this enemy is theirs? Then it's not our problem and we should just let them deal with it."

"How can you say that?" Mina asked, shocked. "The Sailor Scouts defend everybody, not just a select few!"

"Alright girls!" Artemis yelled, annoyed. "Now let's not turn against each other. That's not going to solve anything."

The girls mumbled their apologies.

"Artemis and I will try to get more information on these enemies," Luna explained, "in the meantime, you girls should keep an eye out on these duelists and protect them."

"Right!" They agreed, heading off.

"What do you think of all this Luna?" Artemis asked after they left.

"I think…" she started, "that we might be in more trouble than we think."


	5. Ch 5: Return of Mistress 9

"Nice work Parakeet," Cardinal congratulated, eying the spirit that Parakeet had captured.

"Did you expect anything less?" she responded arrogantly. In her hands was a jar filled with a deep plum mist.

"Wow," Hummingbird breathed, "that's what a spirit looks like?"

"Apparently," Blue Jay nodded. "Not exactly the color I'd choose."

"Their spirits are like a mood ring," a voice called out. The Aviators looked up to find their master standing on top of a large rock, looking down upon them, beaming at the sight of a spirit.

"Pardon?" Blue Jay squeaked.

"It changes," he continued, taking the jar from Parakeet, holding them up for all to see as it changed to an off white. "You see?" Dove murmured, observing it, "before it was dark and mysterious now it's light and kind. I sense that this person held a lot of anger inside of himself."

"So how do you know if the spirit is powerful enough?" Cardinal asked.

"The brightest spirit is the most powerful. Almost like the purest soul. You know how good conquers evil." He chuckled.

"Except in this scenario," Hummingbird said.

Master Dove shot her a look. "We are doing good!" he barked, "We're just finishing what our ancestors before us failed to do! We're restoring the peace!"

"Oh…of course master," Hummingbird said, her voice full of fear.

"Get out of my sight all of you!" he yelled, now shaking with fury.

The Aviators scurried, fleeing Dove's wrath.

"Once the legendary Phoenix revives," Dove whispered to himself, "the Earth shall once again be in peace, as it had been millennia ago." He held the jar containing Bakura's spirit high in the air, toward the sunset. "This is for you Great Phoenix!" he cried out, "As soon as I gather enough spirits I will resurrect you from your eternal sleep and we shall rule together!" he let out a wicked laugh unaware of the Aviators eavesdropping, cowering behind the huge boulder he was standing upon.

They quaked with fear, wondering if they were doing the right thing.

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Trista and Michelle were outside near the ocean, Michelle staring out at the sea and Trista thinking hard.

"What do you think we should do about this new enemy?" Michelle asked.

"I don't know," Trista answered, "maybe we should leave it to the Sailor Scouts."

"In case you haven't noticed," Michelle responded, "we are the Sailor Scouts."

"Does that mean you're going to call Amara here?" Trista questioned.

Michelle felt her cheeks burn, wishing she hadn't said anything. "Of course not! I told you I'm not worried about her. And I wouldn't want to burden her, she's got enough on her mind as it is."

At that moment both Alister and Raphael had walked up to them.

"Hey have you see Valon?" Raphael asked.

"No," Trista said coldly.

"And we shouldn't," Michelle added, "especially not with Hotaru."

Alister let out a long sigh. "Why can't you just accept that fact that what they do is their business and not yours?"

"When it involves one of our friends, we make it our business." Trista replied coolly, briskly walking past them. Michelle quickly followed in suit.

"Catty." Raphael murmured, smiling.

"They'll come around," Alister said.

"Trista," Michelle started as they were walking away. "where is Hotaru?"

She looked at Michelle for a minute and then they both started sprinting.

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"So," Cardinal said, turning to her friends, "which do you think we should start with? Mistress 9 or Wicked Lady?"

"Mistress 9 definitely." Hummingbird said quickly.

"Yeah," Parakeet agreed, "she's already weak and besides, Wicked Lady has too many friends around her."

"Okay so when do you think we should take her?"

"There's no time like the present," Blue Jay murmured, who hasn't said anything.

"Oh and why's that?" Cardinal asked.

"Because our worm is down there," Blue Jay down, pointing to where they could see Hotaru, staggering through the woods.

"I'll get her!" Hummingbird jumped off the cliff and into the woods before the others could protest.

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_Ugh I have to get away from Michelle and Trista or I'll suffocate! _Thought Hotaru, who needed some time to herself. She had started coughing again and didn't want everyone swarming all over her, so she decided to take a walk.

Although she didn't plan on running into anyone else.

"Hi! I'm Rose!" a girl with pink hair like Rini's jumped out in front of Hotaru, startling her.

"Oh…hello." Hotaru replied.

"Hey, I got an idea! Let's duel!"

_Maybe dueling will calm my nerves. _Hotaru thought agreeing.

"Prepare yourself!" Rose cried out, flashing an evil grin when Hotaru wasn't looking. _For me to take your spirit!_

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Valon started to walk aimlessly through the woods in search of Hotaru. He had seen her walk in and quickly followed after her, although he lost sight of her and was now lost himself.

_Where did that girl run off to? _He thought. He paused as he heard the faint shouts of people calling his name. _Oh no, _he thought,_ it's those two girls who try to keep me away from Hotaru! _Valon started to run deeper into the woods, hoping to lose them.

He froze when he saw a girl who held Hotaru in her arms, her body limp.

"What the-?" he started.

The girl saw him and quickly started to run.

"Hey! Get back here!" Valon shouted running after her.

He stopped as he cornered her into the mountains then she started to jump from ledge to ledge, leaving Valon shocked.

Michelle and Trista quickly came up beside him, just in time to see Hotaru being whisked away.

"What happened?" Michelle gasped.

Valon dropped to the ground and started pounding the dirt. "I don't know!" he screamed.

Trista looked at him thoughtfully. _Wow, he really cares about her. _She thought. She cautiously laid a hand on his shoulder, in an effort to soothe him but he just shrugged it off.

_I swear, _he thought furiously, his whole body shaking, _when I find the person who took Hotaru, I'm gonna kill them!_

Trista and Michelle looked at each other for a moment, and then went to find Serena and her friends.

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"So this is where you saw her?" Rini asked, carefully looking behind a few bushes.

"Yeah," Valon said hoarsely who was still depressed about losing Hotaru, was sitting against a tree, his head in his hands.

Serena was disgusted. "Get up!" she yelled at him. "Feeling sorry for yourself is going to get us nowhere! So suck it up and start looking!"

Valon looked up, startled. He hadn't expected anyone to speak to him so sharply. Especially not from a crybaby herself.

"If you really care about her," Raye started, "you'd tell us what happened."

As Valon was about to open his mouth to speak, a shadow had swiftly moved from one bush to the next.

It was evening, so it was pretty dark outside.

"What was that!?" Mina gasped, who ducked behind Kaiba, he had also wanted to know what was going on.

Seto set a brief glance on her then turned away.

"Who's there?" Tristan yelled out.

"Yeah, come out here and face us if you're so tough!" Joey added.

"Joey…" Duke murmured, "I don't think you should get it mad…"

"We don't even know what's there," Rebecca said.

"HOTA-…" Rini screamed, before Trista immediately covered her mouth.

Everyone gasped when they saw the figure emerge from behind the tree.

"It's Mistress 9!" Lita screeched.

"But how can that be?" Amy cried.

"You don't look happy to see me," she murmured, "but that's beside the point. I'm here to take your spirits. So you might as well just save me the trouble and hand them over!"

"We'll never give out spirits to you!" Tea shouted.

"But I'm afraid you don't have a choice. You see…I'm much more powerful than you. Observe…" And with a flicker of her hand, she set the whole ground shaking, everyone toppling over in all directions.

"Mokuba!" Kaiba screamed, aimlessly trying to reach his brother.

"I got him sunshine!" Mina yelled from someplace else, her arms protectively around Seto Kaiba's younger brother.

"Serena!" Luna called out, signaling her, "Now that everyone's spread out, turn into the Sailor Scouts!"

"What? Who said that?" Joey asked from somewhere else.

Serena nodded and coughed in the mist of debris. "Girls!" she shouted and they all nodded.

"Moon Crystal Power!"

"Venus Crystal Power!"

"Mercury Crystal Power!"

"Jupiter Crystal Power!"

"Mars Crystal Power!"

"Neptune Crystal Power!"

"Pluto Crystal Power!"

They all stared at Rini expectantly. But she was shaking uncontrollably, still shocked at having seen her best friend turn back into the enemy she loathed.

"Leave her." Serena told the Scouts. "Right now we have to take care of Mistress 9."

The girls nodded.

"No," Rini whispered, her voice shaking, "don't hurt Hotaru."

"Don't worry Rini," Sailor Pluto assured her, "we're going to get your friend back."

"Ha ha ha ha!" Mistress 9 cackled, "You losers want some more?" she taunted, spreading more of her dark energy.

Valon tried to get up after being hit. He grunted. "Why does she look so familiar?" he murmured.

"Stop right there!" Serena yelled, pointing a finger at Mistress 9.

"Oh not you cretins again." She muttered.

"I stand for love and justice! I will right wrongs and triumph over evil! I'm Sailor Moon and in the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

"And we're the Sailor Scouts!" The other girls said in unison.

By now Pegasus had started to run when he heard the first blast. He stopped right in his tracks, awestruck. There, standing in front of him, were the Sailor Scouts.

"It can't be," he whispered, "Sailor Moon!"

"Who are these people?" Yugi grunted, unable to get a good look at them through the fog.

"Hotaru!" Rini cried, having enough courage to do so, "Hotaru I know you're in there you just have to fight it!"

"That's…" Valon said, "Hotaru?"

"Your little friend is gone!" Mistress 9 screamed, and she threw one of her black thunderbolts at Rini.

"Rini no!" Yugi cried.

But Rini was saved. Sailor Pluto had jumped in front of her, freezing time.

"Now what?" Sailor Pluto asked, "I can't hold time forever!"

"I…I don't know." Sailor Moon stammered. "I don't know what to do."

In the process Mistress 9 had also froze, but the evil contained was breaking free. Her power was so strong that it bent the laws of time and space. The dark energy rose and shot like bullets out of her, breaking the time frame.

"Aaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggghh!" she screamed. "I don't have time for this! I'll get you Sailor Scouts! And I'll capture all of your spirits too! For the awakening of the Legendary Phoenix!" And with that she flew like a crow into the mist of the night.

The Sailor Scouts quickly transformed back into their original selves, having all their strength since they hadn't used any.

But Rini was still quaking with fear.

"Rini!" Yugi cried, running toward her and collecting her in an embrace. He held her close to her chest and stroked her hair, in an attempt to stop her shaking and cries.

"Oh Yugi!" she sobbed into his shirt, which was now wet with her tears.

"It's over." He murmured, although both he and she knew that it was just the beginning.

Mina looked around, and then ran to Seto Kaiba, who held Mokuba close to him.

"Is he okay?" she asked, worried.

"You tell me," he answered coolly, "you said you had him."

Mina felt her cheeks grow hot. That was true. She did say that she was with him. So how is she supposed to explain that she left Mokuba in order to change into Sailor Venus?

Kaiba really didn't want her to explain on account of what she might say. He's been through way too many freak accidents to even care anymore. This incident is no different.

"Ugh, is everyone all right?" Tea groaned, rubbing her forehead.

"I think so," Tristan sighed, trying to get up.

Everyone then turned to Pegasus who was staring into the moon, his mouth wide open in shock.

"I saw Sailor Moon," he whispered, still unable to grasp the fact.

"When is he going to get over that…" Serena mumbled.

"Well," Amy started, brushing off the dirt from her skirt, "that was quite a night. I think we should all get back to bed now."

"Yeah?" Duke questioned, "And then what? Act like it never happened?"

"Hey leave her alone!" Joey barked, "She's just trying to give advice! You don't have to yell at her!"

"Joey I really think…"

"And what have you been doing?" Tristan started to yell, "It's not like you ever had a plan!"

"I'm the one who said we shouldn't trust Pegasus in the first place!" Joey exploded.

"Stop fighting you guys!" Tea yelled, "That's going to get us no where!"

"Tea's right," Yugi agreed, "we should figure out a plan."

"You geeks do that," Kaiba smirked, "while I'll have nothing to do with it."

"Aww come on sunshine," Mina pleaded, "we could really use you help."

While everyone else was arguing, Michelle and Trista stood beside Raphael and Alister, who were watching Valon on the ground, still moping.

"He seems really torn up about this," Michelle murmured.

"It seems," Raphael started, "that you guys no more than you're letting on."

Trista felt herself blush. "Well…"

"We really don't want to know," Alister interrupted, "but if you're going to tell someone, tell Valon."

"But it would break his heart." Michelle whispered.

"Someone's gonna have to tell him," Raphael said, brushing past them with Alister following behind. "Or he'll find out on his own."

Both Michelle and Trista bent their heads down, ashamed.

Valon knelt down into the ground, grasping the dirt where Hotaru once was.

"Hotaru…" he whispered, letting the sand-like dirt slip through his fingers and blow away into the wind.

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Mistress 9 groaned and moaned, as she stumbled into what was know as the Nest, or the Aviator's hideout. She clutched her forehead, which was writhing in pain. Mistress 9 was looking through the eyes of Hotaru Tomoe, her thoughts, her life, and her memories. It was just too much for her.

"Do you think we should talk to her?" Cardinal whispered to Hummingbird.

"I can hear you," Mistress 9 said through clenched teeth.

"Oh, then what's wrong?" Blue Jay asked.

"This stupid girl!" she said fiercely, "I can't get her thoughts out of my head! I own this body! IT'S MINE!"

"Whoa chill Mistress," she heard Hummingbird say, "what kind of thoughts?"

"Her friends, family, this one boy she can't stop thinking about."

The Aviators gathered around at this. They were boy crazy.

"Really who was it?"

"Is he cute?"

"Is he single?"

"Tell us!"

"Shut up!" she screamed, "It's one of those motorcycle ones, Valon. He seems to keep sparking up her spirit."

"But I thought we captured it!" Parakeet gasped, horrified.

"Apparently there's always a piece left." Murmured Dove. The Aviators and Mistress 9 turned around to see him standing behind them. He swiftly walked over and gently stroked her forehead, unaware of the jealous looks the Aviators had on their faces.

Mistress 9 cringed away from his touch.

Dove glared at her, not used to rejection.

"It's not me!" she quickly explained, "I didn't do that! It was…it was…Hotaru." Mistress laid her head in her hands, embarrassed. "She's still inside."

"Hmm…" he murmured, "that could be a problem." He then turned to his loyal servants. "We'd better get this over with. The Legendary Phoenix is not known to be the most patient of living things. I want you to capture the little pink girl and transform her into Wicked Lady immediately!"

"Yes Master Dove!" the girls nodded, heading out.

Once they were out, their anger took over.

"Who does she think she is?" Parakeet yelled, balling up her hands into fists, "Flirting with my Dove!"

"What do you mean yours?" Cardinal scoffed, "It's obvious that he finds me the most attractive!"

"Are you joking?" Hummingbird said, "Are you forgetting who brought Hotaru's spirit in the first place?"

"Yeah well I'm going to get Rini's!" Blue Jay protested.

"Not if I can help it!" Hummingbird said.

And so the four sisters started to race, in search of Rini…and her spirit.

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Serena let out a long, loud yawn. She scratched her back and stood up groggily, losing her balance temporarily. She turned to where Rini lay, her pink hair tumbling about, her breathing soft and even.

"I think," Luna started, hopping beside Serena, "that today should be an all fun day."

"What?" Serena asked, confused, "But you're the exact opposite of that! What happened to the Luna who always tells me to work? That I'm lazy and a crybaby?"

"Oh she's still here," Luna replied, "but I think it's best for Rini. You know…after what happened and all."

"Right." Serena murmured, who had just noticed that Rini's pillow was crinkled from dry tears.

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Yugi Muto stared at his reflection in the mirror. More specifically though, he was staring at the empty spot around his neck, the spot where the Millennium Puzzle should have been.

He sighed heavily, depressed. Not only was Yugi was worried about Rini, but he was also still dwelling in the past, where Pharaoh Atem was. A million things were swimming through his mind, and he had a hard trouble sorting it.

"Now my mind is like the Pharaoh's!" Yugi laughed, although it was bitter and heartless. He looked out the window to see Rini dragging her feet through the forest, and Serena next to her, chattering away.

Yugi quickly got dressed and hurry out the door to see what was going on.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay remember," Serena explained to her friends who were huddled around in a circle, where Rini was noticing the pink and red roses growing on the bushes. "Not a word about Hotaru. This day is all about having fun."

"Well that should be easy for you." Raye said, rolling her eyes.

Serena shot her a look, then continued. "Try to cheer her up. And let's continue with this tournament, even though I know that's the last thing on your minds. Got it?"

The other girls nodded. "Got it!" They said in unison.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rini was wandering around the castle when she ran headfirst into Yugi.

"Ouch!" they both yelped, falling to the ground.

"Rini!" he exclaimed, "I was just looking for you!"

"Really." She mumbled unenthusiastically.

He held his hand out to her and she took it. Yugi pulled her off the ground.

"So…" he started, shifting uncomfortably, "how are you feeling?"

Rini shrugged, afraid that if she said anything, she would break down crying.

"Rini…" Yugi suddenly murmured, placing both hands on her shoulders, "I promise you, I'll get your friend Hotaru back."

Rini looked up, her eyes shining. "Do you really mean it?" she whispered.

Yugi nodded and felt Rini hug him hard. He hugged her back.

They were still in an embrace when Rebecca sneaked up from behind on of the castle walls.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Tea!" Rebecca gasped, "You scared me!"

"Are you spying on them?" Tea asked.

"No!" Rebecca protested, then blushed and added, "Okay…maybe."

"Rebecca I know you're hurt," Tea soothed, "but…so is Rini. She just lost her closest friend."

Rebecca burst into tears. "So did I!" she cried, and then ran off.

Tea stood there for what seemed like hours, dumbstruck. Then she slowly shook her head and walked off, with no intentions of finding Rebecca again.

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Mina was wearing denim shorts, a red tank top, and cowboy boots when she saw Seto Kaiba leaning against a tree. They all agreed they would have fun and Mina thought that she should get to know Kaiba a little bit better.

_"Are you two an item?" Raye asked, smiling._

_"No!" Mina quickly said, "We're just friends! Really! At least…I think so."_

_"He actually seems to like you," Lita commented._

_"That's saying a lot." Amy added, "Considering how much he hates everyone else."_

_"Next to Mokuba," Serena started, "you're the closest thing Kaiba's got!"_

_"He's really lucky to have someone like you Mina." Artemis said._

_Mina blushed furiously, embarrassed. "You guys are acting like I'm married to the guy!" She quickly stormed off, leaving her friends to giggle and wonder what kind of relationship she had with Seto Kaiba._

"Hey sunshine!" Mina called out, running to him. She couldn't read the expression on his face when he looked up.

"What do you want?" he mumbled, leafing through his deck.

"Where's Mokuba?" she asked when she reached him, looking around.

He's actually dueling in this stupid tournament. Said he wants to win those cards." Kaiba didn't mention that Mokuba wanted to win those cards for him and that he was secretly touched by it.

"So you're all alone?" Mina gasped. "Oh that's too bad. Hey I know! How about me and you spend the day together?!"

Kaiba sighed; he knew that this was coming. He looked at Mina's eager face and shining blue eyes. "Fine." He mumbled, knowing that he would regret this.

"Yay!" Mina squealed, jumping up and down. "Oh it will be so much fun, you can tell me all about yourself and vice-versa! And then we can duel!"

Kaiba perked up just the slightest bit at this. He had been craving for a duel for what seemed like years when it actually had only been a few weeks. He froze when Mina grabbed his hand and started to roam the island. She let go once they were on the beach, and they were walking side by side.

"So," she started, "where did you grow up?"

"In an orphanage," he answered, expressionless.

Mina looked up at him, her eyes filled with sympathy. "That must have been depressing."

Kaiba didn't say anything, he just kept his eyes forward.

Mina was hesitant at first, but she asked her question. "What…what happened to your parents?"

"My father died in an accident, and my mother when she gave birth to Mokuba."

"I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't have asked."

"Sorry." She mumbled again, feeling like a complete doofus.

Kaiba snuck a glance at her and his expression quickly softened. "Don't be." He murmured.

"I'm guessing you finally got adopted."

"Yes. By Gozaburu Kaiba."

Mina looked up, surprised. "Isn't he…or…wasn't he a world famous chess player? I heard that he was unbeatable!"

"Until he met me," Kaiba said, "I told him that if I won that game that he would have to adopt both me and Mokuba."

"But…" Mina started, confused, "why would you have to trick someone to adopt you?"

"Because they never wanted us together!" Kaiba said sharply, sensitive over the fact that they wanted him instead of Mokuba.

"O-oh. Okay." Mina said, startled. She then added, "Amy's also a really good chess player. You should play against her some time."

Seto gave her a curt nod. "So," he started, eying her, "I told you about my 'family', why don't you tell me about yours?"

Mina blushed, she didn't expect him to ask about her family and frankly, she didn't know what to say. "Well…I have a mom and a dad and no brothers or sisters." After that she quickly started to walk away, although Seto easily kept up with her.

"Sounds like you're trying to hide something." It wasn't a question; it was merely a fact, and a true fact for that matter. Mina didn't want to tell him about her family. She sighed, remembering her mother yelling at her for every little thing and for no reason. And her dad, who always sided with her mom, even when he knew she was wrong.

Mina didn't say anything; she just felt her shoulders slump. _Maybe I should have never said anything. _She thought bitterly.

"Wow," Kaiba commented, in an effort to cheer her up, "you're speechless. That's a first."

Mina laughed nervously, she felt a little better. "What do you think those cards are?"

"Don't know. And frankly I don't care."

"Aww c'mon," she said teasingly, "you must wonder a little bit of what they might be."

If he did he didn't say anything, he just kept walking.

"Who do you think will win?"

Seto shrugged. "Seeing that I'm not in it it's hard to tell."

"Do you…think I might have a chance?" Mina asked shyly.

He glanced at her. "Yeah," he finally said, "I think you do."

By now Mina was floating above the ground, she was so giddy. She ran up in front of him, blocking his path.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow, questioningly.

"Are we going to duel or not?" she asked, staring him down.

He sighed, but activated his duel disk.

"Yes!" she giggled, "this is gonna be so much fun!"

"Whatever…" Seto mumbled.

"Let's duel!" they both said.

"Ooh! Can I start?" Mina pleaded, giving her infamous puppy dog look.

"It doesn't matter to me," Seto replied, avoiding her gaze.

"Thanks sunshine!" she said, drawing a card. "Now I know this may not seem like much of a challenge, seeing as you were the top duelist in the world! _Were._" She emphasized.

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Just go!"


	6. Ch 6: Secrets Revealed

Michelle was walking along the beach, looking out across the sea. _Amara, _she thought,_ I hope you're doing well. _She swam into the water, hoping to calm her nerves.

The thought of Hotaru's frightened expression still startled her. The contrast of the cool water and the warm sun sent her into a peaceful state.

"Who's there?" a voice called out.

Michelle looked up to find Alister staring at her.

"It's me," Michelle answered, poking her head out of the water.

"Oh," Alister said, "you're the one who's always yelling at Valon."

"My name's Michelle," she replied coolly, "and I don't yell at Valon!" she then added softly, "Actually, I'm really worried about him."

Alister sat down on the sand next to Michelle. "Me too." He confessed.

"How is he?"

"He's holding up. Anything yet on Hotaru?"

"Unh-uh." Michelle said, shaking her head. "I'm so afraid. Hotaru's very sick, and who knows what might have…" By now Michelle had started to cry, and Alister laid his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't cry." He said soothingly, "Everything's going to be okay."

"If only you knew," she whispered, so quietly that Alister might not have heard. At that moment Michelle wanted to tell him everything, about the Sailor Scouts, Mistress 9, herself. But she couldn't.

"I think," Alister started, "that we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. How about we start over?" He looked at her questioningly.

Michelle nodded. "I'd like that," she answered, smiling.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This dice game is hard!" Raye said stubbornly. She and Duke Devlin were playing the game he created Dungeons and Dice, and Raye really wasn't getting the hang of it.

Duke started to laugh. "Either that or you're a terrible duelist!" Raye shot him a look that silenced him.

"I should be out there fighting for those cards, not play games with you!" she scoffed, throwing the dice at him.

He caught them swiftly and then asked, "Can you really think about the tournament now?"

It took Raye a moment to see the real question behind it. "You're asking about Hotaru, aren't you?" she said quietly, now turning away from him.

Duke started to throw the dice up and down before he answered. "I think you and your friends know more than the rest of us."

"And if I do?"

"Then you should tell us. Yugi can help you, he's been through this kind of thing before. We all have."

"And what makes you think my friends and I haven't?!" she shot back at him.

Duke put his hands up in defense. "Okay, didn't mean to offend you, I was just trying to help."

"Well…we don't need you help!" she yelled, standing up.

"Why are you so stubborn?" Duke said, also getting up.

Right now their faces were only inches apart, as they were glaring at each other. Both of them were reluctant to admit the electricity running through them and they both just turned away.

"I have to go," Raye muttered stiffly, gathering her things.

Before she walked away, Duke grabbed her wrist. "If you ever need anything," he breathed down her neck, "I'll be here for you."

She left without saying a word, but not without giving him a curt nod, and then she was gone.

When Raye was out she started at her wrist, the one Duke had grabbed, and brought to his face, his scent still faint on it. She breathed it in, then sighed, and went to find Serena.

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Trista was in her room, creating new designs for her dream fashion line, when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," she said, surprised. _It's probably just Michelle, _she thought to herself as she continued her work.

"Pretty impressive drawings."

Trista looked up, startled. Looking over her shoulder was Raphael, who seemed natural to be standing in her room.

She swiftly looked down, avoiding his gaze. "What are you doing here?" she asked stiffly.

"It's like you're not happy to see me," he chuckled, grabbing a chair and sitting beside her. "So," he continued, "you wanna be a fashion designer."

She felt her shoulders relax and she nodded. "It also helps me to think about other things too."

"I know what you mean. But I heard talking about it is also a good method."

Trista stared at him for a minute and then said, "Please leave."

"Why can't you just tell me what you know?" Raphael asked, shocked.

"Because!" Trista yelled, "You could be the enemy for all I know!"

"If I were the enemy," Raphael said, chuckling, "then you would already be gone."

"You're deceiving."

"I'm telling the truth."

"I don't believe you."

"Well then that's your problem." Raphael said standing up, "But it seems that you're friend has a different perspective."

"What?" Trista asked, following him to the window, which overlooked the ocean.

Raphael pointed, and she followed his gaze. Down on the beach were Michelle and Alister, Michelle leaning against him.

"That traitor!" Trista gasped, stumbling.

Raphael caught her and she quickly pulled away, as if he were contagious.

"Traitor?" he asked her skeptically, "Or believer?"

"Get out…" Trista said through clenched teeth, "I want you out of here right now!"

"I'll leave your room soon…"

"I didn't mean here," Trista scoffed, "I mean…out of my life."

And with that, Raphael stood there, shocked. Then he slowly walked out of the door, until he turned back to Trista.

"You know," he started, "your mind may be telling you not to believe…but you heart is saying something else." And then he was gone.

Trista collapsed back into her chair, placing her head in her hands. _I don't know what to believe…_

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Amy and Joey had just finished dueling, Joey creaming her.

"I guess I'm not a very good duelist," she said shyly.

"Nah," Joey disagreed, "It's just that I'm better."

At this they both laughed.

"I heard you were pretty smart."

Amy blushed delicately. "Not really." She said modestly.

Joey laughed. "You're friends were right," at this she stared at him, "they told me you would deny that if I brought it up."

"They're so silly," she mumbled, smiling. _I'll have to find out what else they told him…_

"I wish Serenity were here," Joey sighed when they started walking.

"Your girlfriend?" Amy asked, a hint of fear in her voice.

He looked at her funny. "No, she's my sister." He answered.

"Oh, I didn't know you had a sister."

"You never asked."

"I bet she's as funny and as charming as you are!" Amy laughed.

"Yeah," Joey said, laughing as well.

"So why isn't she here?" Amy asked.

"Oh…well…" Joey stuttered, "Oh I forgot to tell her alright?"

"No!" Amy gasped, feigning shock. "Joey that doesn't sound like you at all!"

"Ah, quiet!" he laughed, grabbing her and mussing up her hair.

She laughed against his chest. "Stop it Joey!" she giggled when he began to tickle her.

They both landed on the grass, lying side by side, while an awkward silence rose between them. Amy knew what was coming.

"You want to talk about what happened to Hotaru." Amy sighed.

"Well…I just wanted to know if you were okay." Joey propped his head on his elbow, laying on his side.

"I'm fine." Amy answered quietly, "But I think Rini was hit the hardest."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because they're best friends. Back in Japan, Hotaru was picked on and made fun of at school, Rini was the only one who was there for her. They were like sisters." Amy paused, thinking back on those days. "Hotaru was sick, then she got better…sort of. But now she's sick again."

"Do you know anything about this Mistress 9?"

There was a long pause before Amy answered. "I…I guess I do…"

"But…"

"But I can't tell you," Amy whispered, "I'm sorry Joey."

Joey sat up, sighing. "I understand Amy. But I just want you to know that I'll always be here." Almost the exact words Duke had said to Raye.

"Oh Joey," she whispered, her eyes brimming.

She lay her head on his chest, and they stared at the sunset for quite some time, Amy worrying about the future, and Joey, reminiscing the past.

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"Ooh! Hot! Hot!" Lita yelped, dropping the platter of cookies.

Tristan swiftly bent over, catching them just in the nick of time.

"Oh thank Tristan." Lita sighed, taking the tray from him.

"No problem," he replied, grabbing one of the cookies for himself and taking a bite out of it. "Mmm…these are delicious! Where'd you learn to be such a good cook?"

"Well, you learn a lot when you live on your own."

Tristan looked up at this. "You live alone?"

"Yeah…my parents both died in a plane crash. That's why I'm so afraid of planes!"

Tristan remembered Lita clinging on to her armrests when they were on the plane.

"Oh." Was all that Tristan said.

"But I'm okay!" Lita quickly said, laughing. She quickly changed the subject. "So…how's Yugi?"

"That's a random question."

"Not really. Haven't you noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

"You know," Lita said, bending over to whisper in Tristan's ear, "he has a crush on Rini!"

Tristan stared at her incredulously. "He does?!"

"Where have you been? Of course he does, isn't it obvious?"

"Well…"

"And he hasn't been looking like himself lately. Every since Rini got depressed, he's been down too. It's so weird."

"I…haven't noticed." Tristan admitted, ashamed.

"That's because he hasn't showed it," Lita said quickly, trying to cheer him up. "It really isn't that noticeable!"

"I should go talk to him."

Lita nodded. "You should."

"Right. But before I do…" Tristan quickly grabbed Lita by the arms and pulled her close to him. He leaned into her, breathing in the scent of her hair. "Thanks Lita." He murmured. And he was off.

Lita stood there, shocked. "Y-you're welcome." She whispered, watching him run.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Serena bent over the roses, inhaling their fresh smell. She sighed sadly.

"Well what's this?"

Serena turned around to find Maximillian Pegasus, observing her.

"Oh…hi!" she said, but not as cheerfully as she would have.

"You're here all by yourself."

"Yeah…"

Pegasus stood next to Serena and gently stroked on of the roses' petals.

"Beautiful aren't they?" he murmured.

"Mm-hmm." Serena agreed. "They remind me of Darien."

"Darien?"

"He's my boyfriend."

"Where is he?

"Away at college. I really miss him."

Pegasus patted Serena head. "At least he's still here."

_What's that supposed to mean? _Serena wondered.

"You remind me of my Cecelia," he continued, "although…she wasn't as clumsy as you."

"Oh…" Serena breathed. _She must not be here anymore._ She concluded.

"You also remind me of someone else…Sailor Moon."

Serena quickly looked up, startled. _Did he figure it out? I hope not!_

"What do you think?" Pegasus asked, turning to Serena.

"Well…" Serena started, "I think that…you could compare a lot of people to Sailor Moon. Anyone who's brave, or smart, talented, drop-dead gorgeous…" Serena heard Luna sigh beside her.

Apparently, so had Pegasus.

"I didn't know you brought a cat!" he exclaimed, then noticed her forehead, "Hmm…what an interesting birthmark, wouldn't you say?"

"What that?" Serena said, laughing, "Oh…that was just a…a tattoo I got for my cat! You know Luna, crescent moon, get it?"

"Meow!" Luna scowled.

"Hmm…yes." Pegasus murmured.

"So…" Serena began, "how do you know about Sailor Moon?"

"When I went to Japan," he explained, "everywhere I went people were talking about her or Sailor Venus, or any of the other Sailor Scouts!"

"Oh."

"Yes, there were toys, video games, movies, you name it. But I thought that there was something missing…" he started to walk away. _She'll never figure it out._ He thought, smiling.

_Boy, that guy sure is a wacko,_ Serena thought, _but he's kind of sweet. _Serena went back to smelling the roses, while thinking about Darien.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Rebecca," Yugi started, "are you sure this is where Rini went?"

"Oh, I'm positive," Rebecca answered, pulling him forward. Yugi had been looking for Rini all day when he ran into Rebecca. When he told her what he had been doing, she immediately got angry and started to "help" him. Unfortunately for Yugi though Rebecca was pulling Yugi in the opposite direction of where Rini would be.

She had also gone out of her way to avoid Tea, who would surely know what she was up to, and put a stop to it.

"Maybe she's avoiding me," Yugi finally said, pulling away from Rebecca.

"That's right!" Rebecca quickly agreed, "She probably doesn't like you anyway!"

Yugi looked up at the sunset and thought,_ But I really like her…_

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Rini the sun's about to go down," Diana squeaked, "we really need to get going!"

"I know, but I have to find Yugi!" Rini protested. She and Diana were on top of a cliff, near the Aviators' layer, although they didn't realize it, and have been searching for Yugi all day.

"Excuse me sir?" Rini said, seeing another person on the cliff. She inched toward him. "Could you…oh, Valon!"

Valon didn't even acknowledge her, he just stared straight ahead.

Rini looked at Diana and they both nodded. Rini took a seat next to Valon. "What are you doing her here all by yourself?" she asked.

"Just thinking…." He mumbled.

"You're worried about Hotaru, aren't you?" Rini asked quietly.

Valon gave a slight nod.

"So am I," Rini sighed, "she's my best friend you know."

At this Valon looked up. "Really?"

Rini nodded. "Mm-hmm. Yeah, we've been friends for a long time."

For a moment there was silence. Then Valon heard the purr of Diana, who was brushing up against his leg. He smiled a bit at this, petting her. "Cute kitty." He murmured.

"Yeah…" Rini agreed. She then paused. "Valon…do you…do you like Hotaru?"

"I'd be lying if I said no."

"So is that a yes?"

Valon nodded.

"But you barely know her!" Rini said, shocked.

"Don't you believe in love at first sight?"

_Love??? _"Well I…I never really thought about it…" Rini pondered, "This stuff is all so new to me."

"Me too." Valon let out a long sigh. "Rini?"

"Yeah Valon."

"I answered one of you questions, now you answer one of mine."

"O-okay."

"Who is Mistress 9?"

Rini gasped, she hadn't been expecting this. _What do I say? _She thought frantically, looking around, catching Diana's gaze. Diana let off a delicate shrug; she didn't know what to do either.

"Um…."

"Hotaru is Mistress 9, isn't she?" Valon looked her in the eye. "Just tell me Rini."

"I…yes." Rini admitted reluctantly, knowing that she would regret her answer. "How do you know?"

"Because…" Valon started, picking at the grass, "I don't know…I could just feel it, like a part of her was still in there, you know?"

Rini shook her head. "Not really. But I think you're right. I know Hotaru is still in there, I just don't know how to get her out!" She took a deep breath. "Valon you have to promise me that you'll tell no one that I told you who Mistress 9 is. Not even your closest friends. Promise?"

Valon nodded. "I promise Rini."

Rini relaxed. "Good." She then smiled. "So you like Hotaru eh?"

Valon felt his cheeks grow hot.

"You know," she started teasingly, "I could put in a good word for you once we get her back."

Valon chuckled. "You're a good kid you know that Rini?"

"I've been told that before," she giggled. Rini stood up, brushing the dirt off of her shorts. "Well I better get going, the sun's about to go down."

"Take care Rini," Valon said.

Rini turned to Valon, the wind blowing across her face. "You too Valon." She said quietly, before she was off.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You might as well just give up right now," Seto Kaiba told Mina, "it's over." Their duel was almost over with Kaiba having 1300 Life Points and Mina was left with only 450.

Kaiba's Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon was on the field, while Mina only had her Tenderness and Athena. Luckily, Mina had stopped his attack by using Negate Attack, but she didn't know what else she could do.

"This duel's not over yet! It's my move!" Mina drew her card, gaining 500 Life Points since she had Solemn Wishes on the field. _Graceful Charity? Hmm…this might help. _"I activate the Spell card, Graceful Charity. This allows me…"

"I know what the card does." Kaiba mumbled, "Just make your move!"

Mina drew her cards. _Change of Heart, Splendid Venus, and Waboku. _"Um…I'll discard, Splendid Venus and…Waboku!"

"Not like it matters." He muttered.

"Just you wait!" Mina shot back, "Because I activate Change of Heart!"

"What?!"

"That's right sunshine! Now I'll just take your Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon if you don't mind! But I won't be needing it because I'll sacrifice it to summon Celestia, Lightsworn Angel!"

"Why would you do that?"

"And thanks to Athena's effect, every time I summon a Fairy-Type monster, you lose 600 Life Points! Plus," Mina added, winking, "I'd like to finish this Mina style!"

Kaiba was down to his last 700 Life Points.

"Now I'll activate Athena's second effect!"

"Which is…"

"I can send one Fairy-Type monster, say…Tenderness to Special Summon Splendid Venus!"

Kaiba lost another 600 Life Points, leaving him with only 100 left.

_Way to go Mina! _Artemis thought, who was watching from afar.

_She's got three powerful monsters, _Kaiba thought angrily, then smiled deviously, _but luckily I have both Ring of Destruction and Ring of Defense, so no matter what I'll win. _

"You're wide open!" Mina squealed, "For a direct attack! Splendid Venus, Celestia, and Athena attack his Life Points Directly!"

"Not so fast!" Seto said, activating his trap card. "I activate Ring of Destruction!"

"But…doesn't that mean you'll lose too?" Mina asked, confused.

"Not exactly," Kaiba explained, "because I activate Ring of Defense, meaning you take all of the damage!"

"Oh no!" Mina said, her life points going down to zero. "Aww, I was so close! Good duel sunshine!" she said, skipping over to him.

_It's true, _he thought, ashamed, _she almost beat me. A new duelist!_

"Sunshine…are you-?" they both froze and turned to the huge explosion coming from one of the cliffs.

"What was that?!" Mina gasped, leaning closer to Kaiba.

Kaiba felt his cheeks grow warm, but quickly shook it off.

Mina squinted; she recognized something. _Is that…? Oh no! Rini! _On top of the cliff, Mina could see a head of pink hair, barely visible from the smoke. Unfortunately, she had no idea that it wasn't Rini up there, but Hummingbird, one of the Aviators.

"Rini!" she cried, running toward the fire.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kaiba said, grabbing her.

"Let go of me!" Mina screamed, "I have to save her! Rini is up there! You have to let me go! Please!"

"Are you crazy?!" he scoffed. "You'll get killed!"

Mina turned to him, her eyes brimming with tears. "Please…" she whispered.

Kaiba felt his insides turn to jelly. _What's wrong with me?!_ "I…can't." he said at last.

Mina turned back toward the cliff."Rini…" she whispered, hoping she was all right.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hummingbird, Parakeet, Cardinal, and Blue Jay were coughing uncontrollably, after the explosion that Mistress 9 had caused.

_Get out of me! _Mistress screamed, _This body is mine! You're not supposed to be here anymore!_

Mistress 9 wreaked chaos unwillingly, leaving the cave in a mess.

"Mistress!" Parakeet shrieked, "STOP!!!"

"I can't!" she cried, "I'm not doing it!"

_I want my body back! _Hotaru yelled, angry.

"Aaarrrggghhh!" Mistress 9 screamed.

"We need Master Dove!" Hummingbird gasped, dodging one of her attacks.

"I'm here!" Dove said sharply, "What's going on?"

"It's Mistress 9!" Cardinal complained, "She's gone completely nuts!"

"Is this true?" Dove asked, turning to Mistress 9.

She was shaking uncontrollably, huddled into the corner. "I…don't…know…what's wrong!" she gasped, clutching her head. "I…think…Hotaru's still in here!"

"Hmm…" Dove murmured, placing a finger on her forehead. He drew back, startled. "This girl is stronger than I thought."

"So what are we going to do?" Blue Jay asked.

"We'll just have to wait and see," he replied, getting up and walking away.

"Wait!" Hummingbird cried out, "What do we do about…?" but by then Dove was already gone.

"Just leave her," Parakeet muttered, "right now we have to focus on getting Wicked Lady on our side."

The others nodded. "Right!" they all agreed, leaving Mistress 9 huddled in the corner, crying.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pegasus slumped in his seat, and sighed. "Ohh…everyone saw that huge explosion last night!" he groaned, "But where did it come from?"

"I don't know sir," one of his employees said.

"Well go find out!" he snapped, agitated. _Who could possibly put a stop to this madness? Is Sailor Moon the answer to our problems?_

"Oh Rini, hurry up!" Serena complained. "We're gonna miss breakfast!"

"I'm coming Serena! Sheesh…" Rini replied. Rini stepped out of the castle and into the sun, smiling and radiant.

"Why Rini," Luna commented, "you're looking awfully chipper this morning."

She nodded. "Yep."

"Have you been reading my comics again?" Serena asked before Luna scratched her. "Ow! Because it's totally okay if you did!"

"No meatball head, I'm just happy is all."

"RINI!!!" Mina called out, wrapping her up in a bear hug. "Oh I'm so glad you're okay I was so worried about you!"

"Mina!" Rini said through a muffled voice, "You're squishing me!"

Mina immediately dropped her. "Oh, sorry!"

"Geez Mina, what's with the waterworks?" Serena asked.

"Well, I can understand why you don't care," Mina scoffed, "You never worry about Rini!"

"What's there to worry about!?" Serena yelled. "She's right here!"

"In case you didn't notice," Mina shot back, "last night there was a huge explosion and Rini was right in the middle of it!"

"Is that true Rini?" Luna gasped.

"Huh? What?" Rini asked. "What are you talking about? I wasn't in any explosion!"

"Yes you were!" Mina protested, "I saw you!"

"You must've mistaken me for someone else," Rini said, "I was with Valon the whole time, you can just ask him."

"And why were you with Valon?" Artemis asked, suspicious.

"Oh!" Rini yelped, covering her mouth. She had forgotten what Valon had said to her last night.

"Rini…" Luna said disapprovingly, "are you hiding something?"

"Yeah, why ya keeping secrets kid?" Serena asked.

"I…of course not! I'm not hiding anything!" Rini quickly said, laughing.

"Rini! There you are!" Yugi called out, running toward them.

"Yugi!" Rini cried.

"I was looking everywhere for you last night!" he said, panting.

"So was I!" she said.

"Where were you?" they both asked, before they began to laugh.

"This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Mina sighed.

"Oh Yugi!" Serena cried, "Are there any sticky buns left!"

Yugi shook his head. "Sorry Serena."

"Silly girl, all you can think of is food." Luna muttered.

Serena, Mina, and Rini gasped. Artemis froze.

"Did that cat just talk?" Yugi mumbled, horrified.

"Oh…no…she…" Rini sputtered, lost for words.

"Way to let the cat out of the bag, Luna." Artemis said.

"Artemis!" Mina scowled.

"What?" Artemis asked. "He already knows, it's not like you can cover for that!"

"Does this mean we can talk whenever we want now?" Diana sighed, "Oh good. I'm tired of always being quiet!"

"No Diana!" Rini scolded. "You still can't talk! You have to keep quiet!"

"But Rini," Yugi started, "why are you keeping secrets?"

"It's…complicated." Mina sighed.

"There's a lot of things you don't know Yugi," Serena said quietly, "and we have to make sure we keep it that way!"

"But…Tea, Trista, Joey…" Yugi said, "we're your friends!"

"Oh Yugi I'm so sorry!" Rini cried, and then she started to run.

"Rini!" Yugi cried, about to go after her before Mina laid a hand on his shoulder.

She shook her head. "Give her some time." Mina said, "She'll be okay."


	7. Ch 7: Rini's Gone

"Luna," Amy said, shaking her head sadly, "it's not like you to make mistakes like that, I'm so disappointed." Serena and the other Scouts were swimming in the lake, discussing Luna's actions.

"Yeah, not one of your smartest moves." Lita agreed.

Luna just shrugged.

"Serena," Raye started, "why are you so quiet?"

"Because," she said, "Luna did it on purpose!"

"What?" the other girls gasped.

"Luna would never…" Artemis started.

"Don't you see? Amy is right, Luna wouldn't make a small mistake like that. So there must have been a reason behind it. Go on Luna, tell everyone why you did it!" Serena looked at her, waiting for an answer.

"Honestly Serena," Luna chuckled, "I haven't given you enough credit. You're smarter than I thought."

"So she's right?" Mina asked, shocked.

"But why Luna?" Artemis asked.

"Because…" she started, unable to finish. "I…I just can't say!

"Luna," Serena said softly, "you trust them, don't you?"

"I can't explain it," she whispered, "but I know I can trust them. Yugi and his friends, they contain nothing but good in their hearts. And I know that they just want to help. I think we should let them!"

The others girls looked down, embarrassed.

"They are good people," Lita said, thinking about Tristan, "but the reason I won't let them help is because it might put them in danger." She shook her head sadly. "And I can't let that happen."

Amy nodded, agreeing. "What have they ever done to us?"

"We have no right to put them through this." Raye said.

"But if they want to help, who are we to stop them?"

"Rini?" Serena said, shocked.

"You're back!" the others exclaimed.

"I just took a little walk," she explained, "and I've been thinking, Luna is right, if they want to help, we should let them!"

"But…" Artemis argued.

"No buts!" Serena snapped, "I am the leading Sailor Scout and I say we should join forces!"

"In case you've forgotten," Raye muttered, "You're not exactly the smartest person in the world. What if this could go horribly wrong?"

"It's been that way before." Lita sighed.

"It seems we have no choice," Amy said, defeated.

"Hooray!" Rini cried. "No more secrets!" She then quickly froze. _Except for Valon's…_

"What are you all talking about?" Michelle asked, beside her was Trista.

"We're gonna tell Yugi and his friends we're Sailor Scouts!" Rini exclaimed cheerfully.

Trista's face turned serious. "What is she talking about?" she asked sharply, turning to Serena.

"Oh, you know kids!" Serena said, laughing

"We're thinking of letting Yugi and his friends help us with our new enemies." Artemis explained, although he was every bit as doubtful of it as the rest of them were.

"What?!" Michelle gasped. "But it's none of their business!"

"Actually," Lita started, "it is. Remember Bakura? That's their friend."

"You're one to talk Michelle," Trista scoffed, "because it seems like you're making it their business."

"Excuse me?!" Michelle asked, shocked.

"I'm talking about you and Alister on the beach!"

"Oh how romantic!" Rini exclaimed.

"But…we weren't…" Michelle stuttered.

"Oh save it." Trista dismissed, "It's obvious that you've fallen for that guy."

Michelle's cheeks went bright red.

"Hey you guys," Amy said, "let's not turn against each other."

"Yeah we'll sort this out." Raye nodded.

Everyone turned away from each other, now uncomfortable after that argument.

"Hey Rini!" Yugi called out, along with Tea, Tristan, Joey and Duke. Seto Kaiba and his little brother were also amongst them.

"Oh, hi Yugi." Rini mumbled, now a little upset.

"Humph." Rini had just noticed Rebecca standing behind Yugi, who was, of course, glaring at her.

"What are you guys doing all the way out here?" Joey asked.

The girls just shrugged.

"Huh?" Tristan and Duke said, glancing at each other.

_What's wrong with them? _Tea thought, confused. _They're usually all so happy, especially Serena…weird…_

"So what happened?" Kaiba smirked, "You all had an argument?" He said this in an attempt to cheer Mina up.

But Mina, the perky blonde who always had something to say, just ignored him.

"I'm going inside," Trista muttered, glaring at Michelle before she headed back to the castle.

Michelle pointedly ignored her and looked away.

_This wasn't what I expected, _Rini thought sadly, _I just wanted all of us to be friends…I never meant to hurt anybody._

"Stop!" Rini cried. Trista stopped, but didn't turn around. "I'm sorry okay?"

"Rini, this isn't…" Serena started.

"No! It is!" Rini protested. "I'm tired of keeping secrets!" Rini turned to Yugi. "I trust Yugi and his friends, and I don't see why you guys can't too!"Rini turned to Luna and Artemis. They both nodded.

"Hello, I'm Luna."

"And I'm Artemis."

"What!?!?!" Joey yelled.

"Those cats…!" Tea gasped.

"…can talk?!" Tristan finished.

"Unbelievable!" Duke exclaimed.

"Oh please," Kaiba scoffed, "do you guys really buy this? They're obviously just holograms! Pegasus is putting them up to this to fool you. Not surprised that it's working…"

Rini raised an eyebrow at Yugi.

"He doesn't believe anything." Yugi shrugged.

"Yugi," Rebecca asked, "aren't you surprised?"

"Actually," he started, "I sort of heard it first-hand."

"Okay the cats can talk…" Duke said, "big whoop. We've seen weirder things than that. What's the point?"

"Well," Serena stated, "it's…complicated."

"And I'm guessing those crescent moons on their foreheads aren't just there for show." Yugi observed.

"Maybe we should let Luna and Artemis explain." Mina suggested.

Serena nodded. "Go ahead." She told them.

"I still think this is a bad idea." Trista said softly before they started.

But Luna and Artemis just ignored her.

"Well!" Luna said. "Where to begin?"

"I think we should start with Mina," Artemis proposed.

Kaiba shot her a glance before Artemis began.

"When Mina was 13 years old," he started, "I knew that she was Sailor Venus, the Scout of love and beauty."

"Wait a minute!" Tea said, "You're Sailor Venus?"

"Maybe we should tell them we're the Sailor Scouts first…" Amy began.

"What!?" they all yelled.

Serena and her friends sighed.

"I'm Sailor Moon!" Serena said.

"And I'm Sailor Venus!" Mina added.

"Sailor Jupiter!"

"Sailor Mercury!"

"Sailor Mars!"

"I'm Sailor Mini Moon!" Rini cried.

Michelle hesitated before she spoke, she hadn't noticed that Valon, Alister, and Raphael were on the cliff, listening to every word they said.

"I'm Sailor Neptune."

The girls turned to Trista, who was standing idly, not wanting to be seen. Rini looked at her with pleading eyes.

Trista sighed. "I am Sailor Pluto."

"And Hotaru," Rini said quietly, "She's Sailor Saturn."

"And Amara who is not with us, is Sailor Uranus." Michelle added.

The girls waited for their reactions, afraid that they wouldn't accept them for who they were, or worse…wouldn't believe them.

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Raphael let out a whistle. "Looks like your girlfriend is a Sailor Scout Alister."

"Yeah?" Alister shot back, "And what about Trista? She's one too."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Alister rolled his eyes.

Valon didn't want to hear anymore, he leaned back against a cool rock. _So…_ he thought, _Hotaru is Sailor Saturn. That just makes everything more confusing. I'm going to have to see Rini again…_

"Hey Valon," Alister called out, "you all right?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah I'm fine! Couldn't be better, mate!"

Raphael leaned into Alister, when he thought that Valon wasn't listening. "She's still broken up about Hotaru."

"Poor kid."

Valon furiously got up and stormed off, not wanting to hear anymore. He looked up into what was now the night sky and saw what was to be planet Saturn. _How can this be? Saturn? It has to be a sign! _From the darkness from inside the cave on the Aviators' cliff, he saw a silhouette appear, hidden by the darkness.

"Hotaru?" he whispered. At first it was Hotaru on top of the cliff, but when the wind blew he could see nothing.

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"You guys are lying!" Rebecca accused.

"Am not!" Rini protested.

"Anyone can say that they're Sailor Moon!" she snorted, "Prove it!"

"Fine then you little brat," Serena muttered. "C'mon girls!"

All of the girls transformed, until they were all the Sailor Scouts.

"I don't believe it," Tristan breathed.

"Well believe it!" Raye laughed, "Because it's true!"

"Are you mad at me?" Rini asked Yugi.

"Of course not!" Yugi said, laying his hands on her shoulders, "I can understand why you would keep it a secret, it's okay."

"I'm not even going to say anything," Kaiba mumbled.

"Surprise!" Mina laughed, jumping on to his back. He blushed furiously and gently shrugged her off.

"So…" Artemis paused. "What now?"

"Well, I don't know!" Serena said, exasperated.

"Why don't we ask Yugi?" Rini suggested, turning to Yugi.

Yugi blushed. "Well I think that the first thing we need to do," he explained, "is to figure out who our new enemy is."

"You know," Mina said, "that explosion a lot of us saw the other day. I don't think that was just random duelists having fun."

"You think that was our enemy?" Tea asked.

Mina nodded. "I'm pretty sure. And we also know that one of them has pink hair, just like Rini."

"How do you know it wasn't Rini up there?" Rebecca accused.

"Because it wasn't!" Rini yelled.

"Okay you two," Yugi interrupted, coming in between them.

"We also know that Mistress 9 is one of our enemies." Lita added.

Rini's face immediately fell at the sound of her former friend's name.

Luna quickly changed the subject. "Mina where did you see the explosion."

"Uh…" she pondered, now unsure, "I think…over there?" she said, pointing to the caves on the west part of the island.

Seto Kaiba led her arm in the right direction.

"Or over there!" she said.

"Well," Joey said impatiently, "let's get going!"

"Hold on!" Tea said, "Artemis hadn't finished telling us about Sailor Venus!"

"Actually," Tristan pointed out, "he barely even started."

"Go ahead Artemis," Mina told him.

"Alright." Artemis said. "When Mina was 13 years old I knew that she was the Scout of love and beauty, Sailor Venus. But back then she was known as Sailor V."

"I think I saw a video game of that." Duke mumbled.

Artemis nodded. "You probably have. Mina was more of a celebrity icon than a Sailor Scout."

Mina blushed.

"So what did Sailor V actually do?" Mokuba asked, now interested.

"Well she protected people of course!" Artemis replied. "But she couldn't do it alone. That's when the other Sailor Scouts came in."

Luna stepped in. "Serena was meant to be Sailor Moon, although I was very skeptical to put people's lives in her hands, you know?"

The others nodded, and Serena scowled.

"At first she was a crybaby and didn't want to be Sailor Moon. Then she sucked it up and realized her destiny. After that she met Sailor Mercury, then Mars, then Jupiter, and finally, Sailor Venus."

"Hold on," Yugi said, "I thought Mina became a scout before the rest of them."

Mina nodded. "I did. It's just that I was all by myself before I met the others. Actually, I was looking for them."

"And then Serena and the others met us, Sailor Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto." Michelle said.

"And Mini Moon came before them!" Rini added. She then paused. _Should I tell them that I'm Serena and Darien's daughter? What would Yugi think? How am I supposed to say that I'm from the future?_

Serena could tell what Rini wanted to say. She nodded to her.

"And I'm…" Rini stuttered, "from the future."

"What!?" everyone exclaimed.

"What do you mean Rini?" Yugi asked, shocked.

"I'm from the 30th century."

"I don't believe this." Kaiba muttered.

"How did you come from the future?" Tea asked.

Rini looked up into the sky and held out her hands, her Luna P ball came flying down, and finally bounced on the ground.

"What is that?" Rebecca asked.

"This is Luna P," Rini said, "it's how I was able to travel through time. Sailor Pluto gave it to me."

"And Sailor Pluto is the Scout of Time." Luna explained.

"Well I guess that makes sense," Tristan said.

"Yeah, all things considering." Duke agreed.

"Isn't there anything else you'd like to say Rini?" Serena asked softly.

"Oh Serena!" Rini cried, "I can't!"

"Can't what?" Yugi asked.

Rini turned to him. "I'm the daughter of King Endymion and Neo-Queen Serenity."

"Who are they?" Mokuba asked.

"We need to learn how to explain things," Amy laughed.

"They're the king and queen of the future," Lita answered.

"In other words," Raye said, "the queen is Serena and the king is Darien."

"No way!" Tea said, "You mean Serena is going to be a queen?"

"Yeah, we were surprised too." Mina smiled.

"Who's Darien?" Yugi asked.

"Darien is Serena's boyfriend."

"Who said that?" Serena gasped.

They all turned to see Pegasus, who, apparently, had been listening to everything they had been saying; just like Valon and Raphael only he decided to join the party.

"How long have you been listening?" Trista asked.

"I know enough." Was all he said. "Even if I weren't here, you would have been on video. I have security cameras all over the place and they're on 24/7 now because of these spirit snatchers."

"So you know," Serena said quietly.

"Yes," he answered, "although I've always suspected it."

"You have?!" Mina exclaimed.

"It was sort of obvious. I could just tell from Serena that she was Sailor Moon."

"Okay so now you know." Raye said, "So what are you going to do now?"

"I want your help," he said urgently, "I need it!"

"Actually," Rini started, "the reason we've decided to tell Yugi and his friends about this was so that we could join forces and take this new enemy down together!"

"Right…" Tea said slowly, "so how do we go about that?"

"Well," Joey pondered, "I say we should give this new enemy some bait."

"Joey?" Amy asked.

"I mean we should just have one of us standing out there," he shrugged.

"Are you joking?" Duke said, "What's that going to accomplish?"

"He may have a good plan," Pegasus said.

They turned to him. "Remember how they went after Hotaru? She was all by herself. They're looking for people that are unaware, ones that are all alone."

"So who should be the one to go?" Tristan asked.

"Not Mokuba!" Kaiba immediately said, his arm protectively over Mokuba's shoulders.

"No worries sunshine," Mina responded, "I'll be happy to go!"

That didn't make Kaiba feel any better.

"Can't we do this tomorrow?" Serena yawned, "It's really late."

"But they took Hotaru's spirit at night," Amy pointed out, "they wouldn't do it in broad daylight."

"Amy's right." Yugi agreed, "But I think I'll go Mina."

"No Yugi!" Rini said, "I'll go!"

"Oh come on!" Mina groaned.

"Think about it you guys!" Rini reasoned, "I'm young and look fragile, I'd be the perfect target!"

"Which is exactly why I'm not going to let you go!" Yugi protested. "In case something goes wrong the target should be ready for anything and you're a new duelist Rini!"

"And what if you're spirit gets taken!" Rini shot back. Before anyone could respond Rini started to sprint toward the woods, following the exact path Hotaru was on.

"RINI!" Yugi screamed, him and the others running after her, although she had gotten a good head start.

"Look." Blue Jay hissed, at where Rini was gasping for air, after all that running.

"Oh this is just too easy," Cardinal snickered.

"Who should capture her spirit?" Parakeet asked.

"Not me," Hummingbird replied, "I've already done my part."

"I'll do it," Blue Jay volunteered, jumping down before anyone else could respond.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Wow…_Rini panted, _I…didn't know I could run that fast! _Rini looked back from where she had came. _I think I lose them._

"Why hello there."

"Who's that?" Rini gasped.

"No need to be frightened," Blue Jay said mischievously, "I just want to duel you."

"At midnight!" Rini shouted.

"Why are you out here?" Blue Jay asked.

"Because I know who you are! You're one of the enemies! You've been taking people's spirits!"

"I didn't think you'd catch on that fast you little squirt," she muttered, "oh well, you're going to duel me anyway."

"You bet I am!" Rini said, "And when I win, you have to give back Hotaru!"

"Only if you win. Which is not going to happen." Blue Jay activated her duel disk. "Get ready," she hissed.

Rini also activated her duel disk.

"Let's duel!" they both shouted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Rini!" Yugi screamed running, he took a deep breath, and then shouted again. "Rini!!!"

"Where could that kid run off to?" Joey asked, looking around.

"Rini…" Serena whispered, scared.

"Small lady!" Trista shouted. She then turned to the others, "This is terrible; she could have her spirit taken away by now."

"Don't think like that." Michelle said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Aaaarrrrggghhhh!" Yugi screamed, dropping to the ground and pounding the dirt. "This is all my fault, I shouldn't have let her out of my sight…!"

"Oh Yugi," Tea said, sitting down beside him and patting his back.

"Yugi!" Serena said. Yugi immediately looked up at Serena. "Sitting around here is going to get you no where! If you want to find Rini, you better start looking!"

"Wow Serena," Raye commented, "I didn't know you had a leader in you."

"Well I am Sailor Moon, aren't I?"

"You know," Amy started, "if I could just get some of Rini's DNA I could insert it into my GPS to track her down."

"But we don't have any of Rini's DNA." Lita said.

"A family member's will do." Amy responded. They all turned to Serena.

"Who me?!" Serena asked.

"Well duh!" Raye told her, "You are her mother!"

"So what do you want from me? OUCH!"

"This." Mina said, waving a strand of Serena's hair. She handed it to Amy.

"Because you are Rini's future mother, your DNA should be close match to hers." Everyone waited as the GPS scanned the strand of hair. "I have a signal!"

"Where's it coming from Amy?" Joey asked.

Amy pointed. "Over there." She announced.

"RINI!" Yugi cried, jumping up and running toward where Amy had pointed.

"Yugi! Wait up!" the others shouted after him.

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_How do I save Hotaru now? _Rini thought, tears streaming down her cheeks. _I'm a failure, and now, my spirit's going to be captured too!_

The duel between Rini and Blue Jay is almost over and Rini is down to her last 600 Life Points while Blue Jay has 3500.

_NO! _Blue Jay shouted in her mind. _This duel is almost over! But I still haven't drawn the card I need!_

"It's over Rabbit!" Blue Jay laughed wickedly, finally drawing the card she needed. "Your fate is sealed!"

"Oh no!" Rini gasped.

"I activate the Skies of Lost Spirits!"

"What is that!?"

"I needed this," Blue Jay whispered, "I can't capture your soul without it."

Rini gasped as the sky turned blood red, and a hurricane-like wind swept about her.

"What's happening!?" She cried, shielding herself from the strong winds.

"Prepare to give your spirit over for the awakening of the Legendary Phoenix, Wicked Lady!" Blue Jay laughed.

"What!?"

"Faith Bird, finish off the rest of her Life Points! And hand her spirit over to me!"

"Aaahhhh!!!!"

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"RINI! NO!!" Yugi cried, now sprinting to where she was lying on the ground, her body almost lifeless.

"Y-yugi," Rini coughed, now being held in his arms. "I tried, I really did. It's up to you…"

"No," Yugi gasped, shaking, "no Rini don't go!"

"Oh Rini!" Serena screamed, now right beside her.

"Good luck you guys. I know you can…oh." Rini suddenly went limp in Yugi's arms. The wind took up speed, it was whirling around Rini, and all that was left was a cloud of pink smoke.

Now Yugi let the tears fall. "RINI!!!!!!"

"YOU!" Serena cried, turning to Blue Jay, "What did you do to her!?!?"

"You'll find out soon enough," she smirked. Blue Jay then pulled a jar out from beneath her and caught the pink smoke.

"What are you doing?" Mina shouted, now the others had caught up.

"This," Blue Jay explained, holding up the jar, "Is your friend's spirit. Isn't it pretty?"

"Give it back!" Serena screamed, and she went to grab it, but Blue Jay held it out of her reach.

"Oh no," Blue Jay shook her head, "I'll be needing this. But don't worry, you and all your friends will be joining her soon enough."

"You're a monster." Lita whispered.

"I'm just doing my job." Blue Jay shrugged, and she headed back toward the Nest, to show her prize to Master Dove.

"No," Yugi cried, "they took Rini!"

"Rini," Serena whispered, tears running down her cheeks.

"Serena stop your crying," Luna said, her voice full of authority, "I know you're sad but right now we have to focus on capturing this enemy so we can save Rini!"

Serena wiped her face with her sleeve. "You're right Luna," she sniffed, and stood up, holding out to her hand to Yugi.

Yugi looked up at her with a blank expression and wordlessly pulled himself up to his feet.

"That," Artemis started, his head pointing in the direction of the Nest, "must be where they're hiding."

"Okay," Mina said slowly, "but what I want to know is…how? How did they capture her spirit?"

"There's a card."

"It's Valon!" Tea gasped, watching him and Raphael come out from under the shadows.

"Hey, how did you know that?" Joey asked.

"Because," Raphael answered, "we saw."

"Yugi?" Tea asked, "Are you okay?"

By now Yugi was shaking with fury. "YOU SAW AND YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!?" he screamed.

"What could we do, mate?" Valon shot back, "All I could do was watch her take Rini away! Just like…just like they did with Hotaru."

"Valon…" Serena said. The night before Serena had overheard Rini talking to Diana about Valon…

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_"Oh Diana," Rini crooned, "Don't you think that Valon and Hotaru would make the cutest couple?"_

_"Sure!" Diana exclaimed, "But they come from way different backgrounds."_

_Rini rested her chin on her hand. "I don't think that really matters. If you really loved someone, then it doesn't matter if you were once a criminal, or that you were sick, all that matters is the love you hold for them."_

_"Rini you're so wise!"_

_"I think I got that from reading one of Amy's romance novels!" Rini laughed sheepishly. _

_It was quiet for a moment before anyone spoke. Serena was eavesdropping from behind Rini's door, holding her breath in case they heard her._

_"Rini…Rini don't cry!" Diana yelped._

_What!? Serena thought, peeping to see that Rini had tears falling down her face._

_"Oh Diana!" she cried. "I just miss her so much! I…I wonder how much Valon misses her…"_

_"Probably a lot if he loves her." Diana pointed out._

_"Do you think it's like when Serena misses Darien?"_

_"I think so."_

_"It must hurt…"_

_"It sure does Rini…" Serena whispered to herself, so quietly she didn't know if she said it out loud or not._

_"Well," Rini yawned, "tomorrow I'm going to get Hotaru back no matter what! Good night Diana."_

_"Night Rini."_

_And then it went black._

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Serena could see the pained expression on Valon's face and she just wished she could help her. But what could she do?

"So…" Tristan started, "what do we do now?"

"I think it's too dark to go up to their cave," Michelle commented, "Besides, we don't know if they outnumber us or not."

"I really doubt that," Raye said, looking around.

"Remember though," Trista pointed out, "we also don't know how many spirits they already captured, and how many they're using. Like Hotaru's…"

Valon cringed at the sound of her name.

"You mean they're using their spirits," Duke asked, horrified, "as slaves?"

_Wait a minute…_Amy thought, _if they had planned to use Hotaru's spirit to bring back Mistress 9, then with Rini's…_

Amy gasped.

"Huh?" Joey asked, "Amy, what's wrong?"

Amy stumbled; she needed to grab hold on to something. Joey quickly caught her.

"They're planning…on turning Rini into…" she stuttered.

"Wicked Lady…" Raye whispered.

"Who?" Duke asked.

"I thought you guys told us everything." Tristan said.

"Guess we left a couple of things out…" Artemis responded.

"Wicked Lady is like Rini gone bad," Luna explained, "Just like Mistress 9 is Hotaru's evil side."

"Oh no," Yugi said.

"Individually they were almost unbeatable," Michelle whispered, shaking her head.

"I can't even imagine the destruction they will cause together," Trista added.

"But we can't face them today," Tea said.

"No," Serena agreed, "So we'll just face them tomorrow."

Everyone had already left and the only one standing was Kaiba, who was staring up at the Aviator's nest, his expression impossible to read.

Mina came up and stood behind him.

"Are you going to help us?" she asked quietly.

Kaiba looked at her. She didn't return his gaze, just looked down at the ground.

It was quiet for a long time. Seto sighed.

Mina looked up at this.

Kaiba met her gaze. "I don't think I have a choice,"

"Oh thank you!" she smiled, wrapping her arms around his waist and leaning her head against his chest.

Kaiba slowly laid his hands on her shoulders, unsure of himself. He then started to stroke her hair, and they were like that for a long time.


	8. Ch 8: Telephone for Bunny

Mokuba was quietly watching their embrace from afar. Despite everything that's happened, he was as giddy as a schoolgirl to see his brother and Mina together.

"All right Seto!" he exclaimed quietly. Ever since that day where Mina had left Seto's office, Mokuba knew that they had feelings for each other. They just didn't show it.

He slowly crept out of the forest, making sure he left without a peep so as they wouldn't hear.

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Yugi Muto was tossing and turning in his bed, he couldn't sleep at all.

_Yugi! _A voice cried out.

He gasped and stood up, looking around.

"What's going on!?" he gasped, then looked down at his apparel. "Why am I still in my pajamas?"

"Where am I?" he whispered.

_Yugi! I need your help! _

"Where are you!?" Yugi yelled out. "Where am I…?" Yugi was surrounded by smoke, swirling colors were all around him, red, blue, purple, violet.

"Wait a minute…" Yugi mumbled, "I recognize that voice!" he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "Dark Magician Girl, where are you!?"

"I'm right here!" Dark Magician Girl suddenly appeared before him, surrounded by a sugar pink mist.

"Yugi," she started, "both our worlds are in danger again. Only this time I believe it's much worse. Not only are human spirits being taken away the spirits of Duel Monsters are fading away also!"

"That's terrible!" Yugi gasped. Then he paused. "But…what do you want me to do about it?"

"Well…obviously I'm asking for your help." She stuttered, confused.

Suddenly Yugi got very angry and started to yell. "Oh just admit it Dark Magician Girl! I can't do anything now that the Pharaoh is gone! He's the one who would figure out all these problems, not me! I can't…" Now Yugi started crying.

"Yugi," Magician Girl sighed, leaning down next to him, laying a hand on his shoulder. "You were the one who sacrificed your soul to save your friend's life. If you even for one second think that you are of no use to this world, then you've been lying to yourself for a very long time."

Yugi sniffed at this. "Yeah…yeah I guess your right." Yugi stood up, now confident. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"

"Well," she started to explain, "You can't do this alone. Your friends will all help you."

"But…how do I defeat this enemy? I mean…I don't even know what they're planning!"

"Your enemy is that of Master Dove and his loyal servants called the Aviators. They're planning to use the captured spirits in order to awaken the Legendary Phoenix!"

"Like the Great Leviathan." Yugi whispered. "Dartz used the souls he stole to awaken the Great Leviathan."

Magician Girl nodded. "Exactly. You must stop this enemy before the Phoenix awakens!" And with that she started to fade away.

"Wait!" Yugi screamed, "Dark Magician Girl, what will happen if the Legendary Phoenix does awaken!?"

"The world will end as we know it…" her voice getting fainter and fainter.

"No…" Yugi whispered after she disappeared, "…no I can't do this! There must be a mistake!" He pounded his fist onto the floor, letting the tears fall.

_Yugi…_

Yugi glanced up, startled. "Pharaoh!?" he gasped. "Atem is that really you!?"

_Yugi I know you can do this, you just have to believe in the heart of the cards and trust in your friends…_

"Where are you!?" Yugi cried, "Pharaoh please show yourself! I need your help!"

Yugi heard a deep chuckle. _You don't need my help. I know you've made new friends. Like Rini?_

Yugi began to cry harder. "Well she's gone now! Her spirit was captured! I was too late!"

_But you can still save her Yugi…just like you did me._

"PHARAOH!!!" Yugi screamed, and just like that, the Pharaoh was gone.

Yugi woke up in a cold sweat. He started to pant hard. "Was that dream…real?"

He threw off the covers and looked out his window. It was still nighttime and the sky was pitch black. Only the white moon shown brightly, silhouetting the caves said to be the lair of their new enemy.

"Wait a minute…" Yugi whispered, leaning in closer to get a better look. "Is that…?"

Standing in front of the cave was someone with a long black dress and flowing pink hair. The wind started to blow hard causing Yugi to lose sight of her.

"R-rini?" he stuttered. But when the wind had passed, all he could see was a cloud of pink smoke in its place.

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"Miss Tsukino?" Hans poked his head into her room, where she had just come out of the shower.

"Yes?" she asked, opening the door a little wider. "What's wrong?"

"Telephone for you," he replied, leaving.

"Oh…well, thank you!" she called out, picking up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey Buns," a voice replied.

"Darien!?" she cried. "Oh Darien is that really you!?"

He let out a low chuckle on the other line. "Yeah it's me. How are you? What have you been up to lately?"

Serena was about to say that she was great and that everything was fine, but then she'd be lying. Serena slowly dropped the receiver, now depressed again.

"Bun?!" Darien cried, "SERENA!? What happened!? Answer me!"

She picked up the phone again and whispered, "Oh Darien…"

"You can tell me Serena," he said softly.

"It's terrible, there's a new enemy, I don't know what they're doing but they're stealing people's spirits and they've turned Hotaru back into Mistress 9 and they took Rini's spirit and I think they're planning on turning her into Wicked Lady again I don't know what to do!" she sobbed into the phone.

"Whoa slow down Buns!" Darien said, and then paused. "Wait, you're saying they took Rini's spirit?"

Serena sniffed. "Mm-hmm."

Darien sighed. "I thought…I thought moving here to America would be for the better. But I guess I was wrong."

"Darien…"

"I'm coming Serena. Where are you?"

"What!? Oh but Darien you can't! What about your classes! You might miss your exam, I can't let you do that!"

"Well tough Bun. They have Rini. Our future daughter! You need my help. Now I'm asking again, where are you!?"

"I-I'm at Duelist Kingdom."

"Duelist Kingdom…" Darien mumbled, thinking. "Oh no Bun! You're not in that tournament are you?""

"Um…well…yes."

"Why? You don't even know how to duel!"

"Well, I do now!" Serena protested, "Yugi and his friends taught me! They taught all of us!"

"Wait, you mean Yugi Muto!? The King of Games? And all of you are there???"

"Darien let me explain!"

"So you're saying you didn't go there for fun?"

"Well…at first we did, but then…"

"But then what Bun? You found out that there are people who wants to take our spirits???"

"You don't understand! Yugi and his friends have been through this before, they can help us! In fact, last night we told them about the Sailor Scouts…"

"You what!?!?" Darien screamed, "How do you know that they're not the enemy? Honestly Serena, sometimes you don't use your brain!"

"For your information Darien!" Serena yelled back into the receiver, "It was Luna who had opened her mouth in the first place!"

"So what, you want me to blame the cat???"

"Darien, what's wrong with you, you don't sound like yourself at all!!!" Serena cried. "What's happened to you? You've changed Darien…"

"I've changed!!! No Serena, maybe you've changed!!!" Darien slammed the receiver so hard his whole table shook.

"Darien? DARIEN!!!" Serena screamed. She gently set the receiver down in its cradle. "He hung up on me…" she whispered. "Oh Darien…"

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"Hey, have any of you seen Serena?" Mina panted, running up to all of them.

"I thought she was just sleeping in," Lita commented, unworried.

"Yeah, why are you so surprised Mina?" Raye snorted.

"Well, she's not there," Mina answered. "I'm really worried about her."

"I'm sure she's fine," Amy reassured her, "she could be just taking a walk. You know how depressed she's been lately with Rini gone and all. Besides, Luna is with her."

"No she's not."

"Luna!?" the girls cried out.

"Weren't you with Serena?" Raye asked.

Luna shook her head. "Actually, I'm looking for her. When I woke up, she was gone!"

"We better start looking you guys," Artemis told them.

The girls nodded. "Right!"

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"SERENA!!!" Mina called out. "Serena where are you!?!?"

"I don't think she's here," Artemis commented.

They had all split up, Mina checking the forest, Lita, the mountains, Amy's looking in the ocean, and Raye was checking inside the castle.

"Bunny," she whispered, "where could you be?"

"You lost your bunny?"

"Sunshine!" Mina exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same question," Kaiba replied. Last night's embrace was still fresh in his mind, but apparently, Mina had forgotten all about it.

"I'm looking for Serena," Mina said, looking around. "Have you seen her?"

Kaiba shook his head.

"Oh…" she whispered, sinking to the ground. "Serena…I'm so worried about you!"

"Mina…" Kaiba said, his hand reaching out to her, but he stopped short. There was a rustle in the bushes.

Mina immediately stood up, alert. "What was that?!" she gasped.

Kaiba stood in front of her, shielding her from what they were about to see.

Suddenly, Weevil Underwood jumped out of the bush, looking like a zombie.

"Doh! Weevil!" Mina cried. "You scared me, what were you doing behind that bush?" she gasped, "Were you spying on us?"

"Duel…." He drawled, activating his duel disk. "Hand your spirit over to the Legendary Phoenix!!!"

"What is this kid talking about?" Kaiba muttered.

_Legendary Phoenix? _Artemis thought suspiciously.

"A duel?" Mina laughed, "Is that all you wanted? I squashed you like a bug last time! I can do it again!"

"Wait!" Kaiba immediately said, laying his hand on her arm before she activated her duel disk. Even though he told everyone that he didn't believe in any of this, he was still unwilling to let Mina put herself in danger. "Let me take this."

"What?!" Mina exclaimed, "But why can't I duel?"

"Go look for Serena!" Seto barked, "And make sure Mokuba is okay!"

Mina stood there, frozen for a moment, noticing the distinctive mark on Weevil's forehead. It was tiny, barely even noticeable, but it was there. A small bird that Mina couldn't put her finger on, Amy would surely know.

_Is that…_Mina thought, horrified, _…one of the enemies? Oh no! They captured Weevil's spirit already!_

"Get moving Mina!"

"C'mon Mina!" Artemis urged.

Mina nodded, back to reality. "Got'cha!" But before she did, she came up behind Seto and wrapped her arms around his waist.

Kaiba blushed.

"Be careful sunshine," she murmured. And then she was gone, taking off like a gazelle.

"So," Weevil snickered, "you got yourself a girlfriend. How cute!"

"Let's just get this over with!"

Weevil nodded. "Yes, the sooner the better. Because after I capture your spirit, I'm going after Mina! A ha ha ha ha!" he cackled.

Seto gave a dark chuckle. "And what makes you think you can get past me?"

"Let's duel!" they both shouted.

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When they had split up, Luna had gone with Amy as she was searching along side the coast.

"I don't think she's here." Luna sighed.

"I think you're right," Amy agreed, "let's look one more time though."

"Amy! What are you doing here?" Joey asked.

"Oh, hello Joey." She greeted sadly.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Serena is missing!" Luna explained. "We have to find her!"

"Whoa!" Joey yelped. Then he laughed. "Still not used to that! So…when was the last time you saw her?"

"The same time you did. Last night. I can't imagine what would make her run off like that. I mean…I know with Rini gone she's depressed but she still has us."

"Didn't you say that Rini was Serena's future daughter?" Joey asked.

Amy nodded. "Yes, that's right."

"Maybe I'm just naive," Joey said thoughtfully, facing the caves. "But a mother's love for her child is unconditional. So…" he pointed to the Aviators' Nest, "…you sure she didn't go up there on her own?"

"I…no!" Amy gasped. "She couldn't have! Oh Joey we have to go after her!"

"So let's get going!" Luna urged, impatient.

They heard a laugh from the distance. "I don't think so."

"Who said that? Show yourself ya freak!" Joey yelled.

"Is that any way to treat your sister Joey?"

"Serenity!?" Joey gasped, then he broke out into a huge smile. "Serenity you came!" he ran up to her, about to grab her in an embrace when he stopped short. "Serenity what's on your forehead?" he gently brushed his fingers over the mark and cringed away. "OUCH! What is that?"

"Joey stay back!" Amy yelled. "She's not herself!"

"What?" Joey asked, looking back at her.

"She's right. Your little sister is gone! I am a servant to the Legendary Phoenix and Master Dove! So…" she exclaimed, activating her duel disk, "…duel me!"

"But…I can't…" Joey whispered, falling back. "If I beat you…then…your spirit will be gone forever!"

"You must do it Joey! In order to save her, you have to defeat her, it's the only way!"

"You might want to listen to your friend." Serenity told him. "But there's a slim chance of you winning. So, what do you say?"

Joey clenched his hands into fists, holding them at his sides. _I don't want to do this…_he thought angrily, _…but…if I'm ever going to save everybody I have to get through some people first! I can only trust my gut on this one!_

"Serenity!" Joey yelled, activating his duel disk, "Let's duel!"

"Excellent!" Serenity smiled.

"Amy," Joey told her, "go warn the others!"

"But…"

"I'll be fine. Don't worry!" he said, giving her a thumbs up.

"Okay, let's go Luna!"

"Good luck Joey!" Luna called out before running off with Amy.

"Luck," Joey chuckled after they left, "is my middle name."

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"Serena could be playing hide and seek for all I know," Lita muttered, pushing her way through leaves and branches.

"Lita! Lita wait up!" Tristan yelled, running to catch up with her.

"Tristan?" Lita asked, "What are you doing over here?"

"Trying to catch up with you," he chuckled, "are you looking for something?"

Lita nodded. "I'm looking for Serena, have you seen her?"

Tristan shook her head. "No, I haven't. This an emergency?"

"Well…I'm not sure, but we haven't seen her since last night…I'm just really worried about her."

"Hey," Tristan said softly, "don't worry, we'll find her. Let's start looking."

"Okay." Lita replied. "But I don't know why she would be up here, I'm starting to hate this place more and more. Ouch! So many mosquitoes!" she started to swat them away.

Although Tristan wasn't really paying attention, he was looking across the path, a stream of memories flooding through him. _This was where I traced Bakura…_he thought, _when he had the Millennium Ring._

"Uh…Tristan?" Lita said, snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"Huh, what?" he asked, snapping back to reality.

"Looks like you were in dreamland for a moment there," she laughed, "C'mon, I want to check up there, higher in the mountains."

Lita shielded her eyes from the sun, and then saw the Aviators' hideout. _What I wouldn't give to go up there right now and take all of them out! _She thought angrily.

"Did you hear something?" Tristan asked, looking around.

"I think the mosquitoes are getting to you!"

"No, listen." He whispered, placing his hand on her shoulder. She froze and strained her ears to listen more carefully.

It was very faint, but audible, laughter, in the distance.

"Serena?" Lita gasped.

"Close, but not quite." From behind the shadows, Bakura came out, looking as evil and devious as ever.

"Who are you?" Lita asked.

"Bakura!" Tristan laughed. "You scared me man! What are you doing hiding like that?"

"I'm afraid your friend is no longer with us," he muttered, "his spirit was offered to awaken the Legendary Phoenix."

"Huh?"

"So," Bakura started, activating his duel disk, "which one of you are going to duel me?"

"What are you talking about?" Tristan yelled. "Dude, you're not yourself! You're like…" _Bakura's evil spirit…_

"No way…" Tristan whispered.

"Tristan! What? What is it!?" Lita gasped.

"But…the Millennium Ring," he started, "it's gone! It was gone with the Pharaoh!"

"Millennium what?" Lita shook her head, she was so confused.

"True," Bakura gave a dark chuckle, "but it was still living inside of me, just waiting to be freed. And when Hummingbird dueled that weaker side of me and captured his spirit, she released me instead. Of course, I was thrilled to work on their side seeing as the Millennium Items are of no use to me anymore."

"Hummingbird?"

"You're not making any sense!" Tristan roared.

"Well," Bakura muttered, "then maybe a duel will make more sense. What do you say?"

"I'm game!" Tristan replied, activating his duel disk.

"Tristan!" Lita protested.

"I know what I'm doing!" he shouted, "Just get going! Tell Yugi what we know so far!"

"W-well, alright." She reluctantly agreed.

"Yes," Bakura seethed, "and tell him that there's no way he can defeat us now that the Pharaoh is gone!"

Lita looked at Trista, she had no idea what Bakura was talking about.

"I'll explain later." Tristan told her.

Lita nodded and started to run, looking to both her left and right in case she spotted Serena.

"Nice girl," Bakura commented, "it's a shame that she won't be able to run like that ever again!"

Tristan shook with fury. "You're not going to lay a finger on her! Now let's duel!"

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"That meatball head," Raye muttered, checking behind every closet and under every couch, "if I didn't know her any better I'd say she was…playing hide and seek or something!" she threw her arms up in frustration. "Oh I give up! If Bunny doesn't want to be seen then she doesn't want to be found!"

As Raye was checking under one of Pegasus' antique loveseats, the Duel Monsters creator himself appeared. He raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"I doubt it," Raye muttered, wiping the dust off her clothes, "finding Serena is like finding a needle in a haystack."

"Serena's gone?" he asked, now more intrigued.

"Missing, gone, lost, call it what you like. The point is, I can't find her anywhere!"

"What's all the fuss about?" Yugi questioned, noticing Raye's frustration.

"If anything the fuss is about Bunny." Raye sighed.

Before anyone could say anything else, Lita, Amy, and Mina all started running toward them, before they crashed into them.

"Oh for Pete's sake!" Pegasus exclaimed, trying to untangle himself from the mess, "What is the matter with you all!"

"Kaiba's in a duel!"

"Joey's dueling!"

"So is Tristan!"

"What?" Yugi gasped, "Where? Against who?"

"Well," Amy started, "Joey is dueling his sister Serenity, on the beach."

"Serenity?" Tea asked, who had just joined the conversation. "Well that's weird. Why would he be dueling her?"

"It's not really her," Amy explained, "I think the enemy brainwashed her or something."

"Wait," Yugi interrupted, "but if one of them loses then…"

"I know." Amy said sadly.

"I wanted to duel Weevil myself," Mina pouted, "but sunshine wouldn't let me, it's not fair!"

"You're in good hands Mina," Pegasus chuckled, "you're lucky he didn't let you duel. What if you had lost?"

"I…" Mina couldn't finish.

"I'm just really worried about Tristan though," Lita said quietly, "he's against a sort of 'evil' Bakura."

"What!?" Both Tea and Yugi gasped.

"That reminds me," Lita continued, "you haven't really told everything about yourselves either. Like, what are the Millennium Items, and who is this Pharaoh person?"

Yugi's face immediately fell at this.

"He's just an old friend," Tea said quickly, placing a hand on Yugi's shoulder.

"Evil Bakura huh?" Pegasus said thoughtfully, "I don't know how he could have resurrected."

"He said that someone named Hummingbird dueled his weaker half and that when he had lost his evil side came out."

"So his evil spirit was within him all along," Yugi stated.

"Amy I had a question," Mina started, "on Weevil's forehead there was a bird but I don't know what it is. Do you know?"

"Yeah I saw that too!" Lita exclaimed.

Amy nodded. "There was one on Serenity's forehead also. When Joey touched it though, it was as if it burned him."

"A bird?" Pegasus asked.

"It's called…" she paused, then whispered, "…a phoenix."

"That makes sense." Mina said.

Tea turned to Yugi. "It's just like the Orichalcos sign," she commented.

"Mm-hmm." Yugi mumbled. He was thinking back to Rini's last duel, the duel where her spirit was taken away, the last time Yugi saw her.

"Yugi?" Tea asked.

"It's so much like Dartz and the Orichalcos," he murmured.

"Yeah," Mina said slowly, "you're going to have to explain all of this later!"

"Think about it," he pointed out, "We already know that they want spirits, just like Dartz wanted souls. And we know that he used a special card to seal them away."

"But we don't know who's causing this." Amy commented.

"True." He said, "But we can figure out the card they've been using. And maybe that'll help."

"How are we supposed to figure that out?" Raye asked.

"The only people that have seen the card," Lita muttered, "had their spirits captured."

"What's happening mates?" Valon asked, passing by and whistling.

"Not quite Lita," Yugi disagreed. "Valon! Hold on!"

"Hmm? What's wrong?"

"You said you saw the last moments of Rini's duel, right?"

"I already told you I couldn't do anything!"

"What was the card she used?"

"Who?"

"The enemy?"

"What card?"

"The one that captured Rini's soul!"

"Oh," Valon said slowly, "that one. Hmm. I don't know if I remember."

"Well here's something to make you remember it faster!" Raye said coldly, "Tell us its name and we might have a better chance at saving Hotaru!"

"Hotaru?" Valon whispered, he then fought hard, trying to remember. "Spirits of the Lost Skies? No, wait that's not it. Oh! I remember now! It was Skies of Lost Spirits!"

"Strange name." Lita commented.

"Um…not really." Valon disagreed. "You know that this enemy is the Legendary Phoenix, right? Skies? And that they need your spirits to awaken it. Honestly, they say this every time you see them!"

"Huh. Guess it does kind of make sense." Mina said.

"I'll do some research on the internet about this Phoenix," Amy suggested.

Yugi nodded. "Good idea Amy."

"Wait a minute!" Luna protested, "We're supposed to be looking for Serena remember?"

"Yeah, she could be anywhere by now!" Artemis agreed.

"Oh right, sorry." Amy turned to Pegasus, who was off in the corner. "You have security cameras all over the island, don't you?"

He looked up, startled. Then nodded. "And in every room too."

"What?" Mina gasped. "Well there goes my privacy!"

"Don't flatter yourself." He mumbled.

"Excellent." Amy stated. "Now we can check the tape for anything suspicious that had happened in Serena's room. May we see the tape?"

Pegasus nodded. "Right this way."

"Ok," Amy started, busily typing on one of the main computers, trying to find Serena anywhere on it. "Luna, you said you woke up at about 9 o'clock, right?"

Luna nodded. "That's right Amy."

"We stayed up pretty late," Lita commented.

"Yeah up until about midnight," Mina added.

"So we just have to find the part between midnight and nine a.m. and…here it is!"

"But that's nine hours of footage!" Raye exclaimed. "Are we seriously going to watch all of that?"

"Don't worry Raye," Amy assured her, "I can just fast-forward it. See." She started to fast-forward the tape in Serena's room.

"Well there's nothing to suspicious, she's just getting ready for bed and…changing!"

"Look away!" Luna yelled at the guys.

"Okay it's over!" Amy laughed. "Hmm…she's going to be asleep for a while. Oh…wait a minute! Who is that?" Amy paused the tape.

"Oh that's Hans, one of my workers." Pegasus explained.

"What's he doing in Serena's room?" Tea asked suspiciously.

"How should I know??" he asked impatiently. "Why don't you just roll the tape, and find out for yourself!"

"Alright then," Amy replied, pressing play.

_"Telephone for you." _They heard him say.

_"Oh…well, thank you!" _

They sadly watched the argument that Serena was having with Darien, even though they couldn't here what he was saying, they understood enough.

This was all that they heard:

"_Darien!?" she cried. "Oh Darien is that really you!?_

_"Oh Darien…_

_"It's terrible, there's a new enemy, I don't know what they're doing but they're stealing people's spirits and they've turned Hotaru back into Mistress 9 and they took Rini's spirit and I think they're planning on turning her into Wicked Lady again I don't know what to do!_

_Serena sniffed. "Mm-hmm._

_"Darien…"_

_"What!? Oh but Darien you can't! What about your classes! You might miss your exam, I can't let you do that!_

_"I-I'm at Duelist Kingdom."_

_"Um…well…yes._

_"Well, I do now!" Serena protested, "Yugi and his friends taught me! They taught all of us!_

_"Darien let me explain!_

_"Well…at first we did, but then…_

_"You don't understand! Yugi and his friends have been through this before, they can help us! In fact, last night we told them about the Sailor Scouts…_

_"For your information Darien!" Serena yelled back into the receiver, "It was Luna who had opened her mouth in the first place!_

_"Darien, what's wrong with you, you don't sound like yourself at all!!!" Serena cried. "What's happened to you? You've changed Darien…_

_"Darien? DARIEN!!! He hung up on me…oh Darien…"_

"Well," Pegasus mumbled.

They could here some of what Darien had said, especially when he was yelling at Serena.

"It's obvious that Darien was mad at Serena when she told Yugi that we were the Sailor Scouts." Amy sighed, pausing the tape, not wanting to watch anymore.

"We also know that he was planning on coming to Duelist Kingdom," Lita added.

"All I heard was a bunch of 'Oh Darien's'," Valon commented.

"Wait…" Yugi said slowly, "that call was from this morning."

"That's right." Amy said.

"And he doesn't know that Serena's gone."

"Yeah…" Raye said.

"So," Yugi started, "that must mean that he's still planning on coming!"

"The college Darien's attending wasn't too far from Domino City," Mina said, "And it only was a seven hour flight."

"But Serena's been missing for more that seven hours," Tea said.

"So that means…" Valon started.

"…he's already here." Yugi finished.

"Do you think Serena went to meet up with him?" Lita asked.

Amy nodded. "It's more than likely. I just wish we knew where."

"You know," Raye said slowly, "Serena was right. Darien didn't sound like himself at all. I felt some really bad vibes from him. Guys I think he has changed."

"You don't mean…" Pegasus began.

"He's working for the enemy!?" Tea gasped.

"They changed Joey's sister didn't they? What's to stop them from changing Serena's boyfriend!" Amy questioned.

"And she doesn't know!" Mina gasped.

"We have to find her now!" Yugi screamed. "We can't lose her like we did Rini!"

"We're coming Bunny!" Raye yelled, sprinting out of the castle. The others followed in suit.

"But wait!" Pegasus called out. "You don't even know where she is!"


	9. Ch 9: Black Crow

"By using the same sample that we used to find Rini," Amy explained, "we can easily find Serena since this is her exact DNA."

"I don't understand why we didn't do this before," Raye muttered, baffled.

Mina shrugged. "We were in a state of panic."

"Hmm…" Amy mumbled, "I don't understand why she would go so far…" They were walking deeper and deeper into the woods, until they came to a waterfall.

"Never knew this was here." Tea commented.

"Oh it's like in those movies!" Mina exclaimed. "How romantic is it that Darien and Serena meet behind the waterfall? It's brilliant!"

"You can't be…" Raye started.

"She's in there." Amy stated.

"Well then let's go!" Lita said, dashing toward the cave.

"Lita! Wait up!" Yugi called after her.

"Serena?" Amy called out, "Are you in here?"

"Look!" Tea gasped.

Sprawled out in the middle of the cave, was Serena, facedown, her hair spread out in all directions.

"Oh no! Serena!" Luna screamed, running toward her. The others followed Luna.

"Serena? Serena please wake up!" Raye cried, shaking her.

"She's gone Raye," Valon said quietly.

"No…" she whispered, "…who could have done this?"

"That," a voice called out, "would be yours truly."

"TUXEDO MASK?!?!?" Mina, Amy, and Lita said simultaneously.

"In the flesh," he said, throwing them a black rose, instead of his usual red one.

"What did you do to Serena!?!?!" Raye screamed at him, holding Serena in her arms.

"I did what I was told to," he answered, "I took her spirit. That meatball head's better off gone anyway."

"You love this meatball head!" Tea yelled.

"Darien did." He replied, "But the Black Crow lives to serve the Legendary Phoenix! I don't have time for love!"

"Black Crow?" Raye gasped.

"Who are you!?" Lita yelled. "And what have you done with the real Darien?!?!"

"His spirit is being put to good use," Crow explained, "so you don't need to worry about that."

"Well if you and your buddies like to steal people's spirits," Valon started, "then why don't you take me on you chump!"

"As tempting as that sounds," Crow chuckled, "I don't do anything without my master's orders."

"And just who is your master?" Yugi cried.

"The all powerful Master Dove," he answered. He swiftly knelt down and picked up Serena's lifeless body.

"Hey!" Lita yelled. "Put her down right now!"  
"I don't think so." Crow said darkly, and he carried her away, back to the Nest.

"I can't believe it," Amy whispered, "they got Bunny!"

"What are we going to do now!" Raye cried, "We've lost Hotaru, Rini, and now Serena!"

"Everybody calm down!" Yugi yelled. "Panicking is going to get us nowhere! We have to think of a plan!"

"He's right," Valon agreed.

"So what do you think we should do then?" Tea asked.

Yugi looked up at Amy, Lita, and Mina. "I think you should check on Joey, Tristan and Kaiba."

"Okay." They all agreed, running off.

"Once we gather everyone," Yugi explained, "we'll figure out a plan to get to the Nest and defeat this Master Dove." He turned to Raye. "Could you go back to Pegasus and tell him to get all of the duelists inside?"

"I can do that." Raye nodded.

"Duelists aren't going to be happy being cooped up inside." Valon commented.

"Pegasus will think of something," Yugi murmured, "after all he always does."

"So what should we do Yugi?" Tea asked.

"Valon," Yugi said, "you should go back and tell what we know to Alister and Raphael. The three of you should be scooping the island in case there are any wandering duelists. All of these duelists are new, they don't know what they're doing, so you three should be the only ones out of the castle."

"Got it." Valon said, running off to warn his friends.

"Tea," Yugi continued, "you and I…where's Rebecca?"

"I don't know," Tea admitted, "I haven't seen her all day."

"Oh no," he gasped, "Tea search the whole island for her! She could be dueling someone right now!"

"All right," but before she turned to go she asked, "What are you going to do Yugi?"

Yugi looked at the deep end of the cave. "I'll be looking for more clues about this new enemy."

"Just…be careful Yugi."

Yugi nodded and Tea left.

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"Luna, are you sure this is where we last saw Joey and Serenity?" Amy asked, running.

"I'm positive. But maybe…look there they are!"

"Joey?" Amy asked, uncertain.

He was leaning over Serenity, crying. "I beat her." He sobbed. "And now her spirit is gone!"

Amy laid a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry Joey, we'll get her back. But I suggest," she started, pointing to Serenity's body, "that you take her with us."

Before they all had split up, Amy had given each of them a jar, to carry whatever spirit was lost, just to make sure that the enemy didn't get their hands on it.

While Amy was putting the baby blue mist into the jar, Joey stroked her face. "Looks like I wasn't the only one crying," he murmured.

Amy touched her face; she hadn't realized that she'd been crying. "Oh," she sighed, wiping her face with her sleeves, "it's just…it's just that…they got Serena too."

"Oh no…" Joey whispered.

"But there's no time for tears," she said, putting the jar into a bag, "right now we have to focus on the future, not the past."

"Amy," Luna started.

"Yes Luna?"

"I'm going into the security room again."

"Whatever for?"

"To try to get in touch with headquarters," she explained, "Maybe they have something for us."

"That's a good idea Luna." Amy nodded. And Luna left.

"So…" Joey started, "how many have been taken?"

"Well," Amy sighed, "there's Hotaru, Rini, Serena, Bakura, your sister…and who knows how many more. We'll have to take inventory."

Tristan's dueling Bakura right now," she continued, "and Kaiba is dueling Weevil Underwood."

"But you said Bakura's spirit was taken!"

Amy stood up. "I'll explain it to you on the way. But right now we have to get going!"

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"Tristan!" Lita called out. She had been searching for what seemed like hours, when it was only a few minutes. "Where could he be?"

"Looking for him!" The evil Bakura cackled, throwing down Tristan's body.

"Oh no! Tristan!" Lita cried, coming to his side. _He lost…_she thought sadly. _I knew I should have dueled for him. But wait…!_

"Where's his spirit!?"

Bakura let out an evil grin and held a jar filled with a forest green mist.

"Give it back!" she yelled, trying to make a grab for it.

"I don't think so." He chuckled. "I'll be needing this. But don't worry," he said before he left. "You'll be joining him soon enough."

"NO!" Lita cried into Tristan's chest. She shook him hard, even though she knew it wouldn't do any good.

"All right. No more tears Lita." She sniffed. _I swear, _she thought angrily, _I'll get you back Tristan! If it's the last thing I ever do!_

She hauled Tristan on to her back and started to run; unaware of how far she really was from Pegasus' castle.

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_I hope…Kaiba…is…okay! _Mina panted, sprinting. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Seto Kaiba was still standing. But her face fell when she saw Weevil Underwood.

Kaiba turned around to see Mina whisk past him and on over to Weevil. With lightning speed she caught his bright green spirit into a jar and sealed it shut.

"What are you doing?" Kaiba asked.

"Poor Weevil," Mina murmured, stroking his hair. "He may have been a pest but no one deserves to have this to happen to them. That's why," she grunted, hauling Weevil onto her back, which made Kaiba's eyes go wide, "we have to take him back to Pegasus. So they won't get their hands on him." Mina looked around for Artemis when she remembered that he had gone with Luna to contact headquarters.

"Um…Mina," Kaiba said uneasily, "I can carry him for you."

Mina looked up at him and laughed, the first one she's had in a long time. "It's okay sunshine," she smiled, winking, "I got it."

"So…" Seto started, "how's Mokuba?"

Mina gulped. _Uh-oh I forgot to check on him! _She whizzed her head around and then sighed with relief when she saw Alister taking him back to Pegasus. But she couldn't let Kaiba see.

"Oh he's fine!" she said cheerfully, "But you know sunshine, I'm really glad that you're okay." She ran to his left side, blocking his view of Mokuba.

"Whatever," he mumbled, looking straight ahead.

She carefully looked around, just checking to see if Valon and his friends missed anybody.

She froze and dropped Weevil's body, it landed with a thud.

"Mina? Mina what is it!?" Seto yelled, trying to get her attention.

Mina started running, running to where Tea and Rebecca were; Rebecca sprawled out on the floor.

"Oh thank goodness you're here!" Tea cried, she then pointed to one of the Aviators. "They're trying to take her spirit!"

Cardinal was holding up a jar filled with Rebecca's hot pink spirit. "You're not getting this one!" she cackled.

"We'll see about that!" Mina yelled. "Sailor V kick!" she kicked the jar out of Cardinal's hands.

"Ouch!" she yelped, holding fast to her hand.

"Whoa!" Tea exclaimed, catching the jar.

"Ooh! You guys are lucky I broke a nail or you'd be in big trouble!" and just like that, she was gone.

"Nice moves Mina," Tea sighed, "you saved Rebecca's spirit."

"Put it in here," Mina said, holding out the bag that already contained Weevil's jar. Tea gently placed the jar inside the bag.

Kaiba had just caught up to them, with Weevil on his back. "Thanks for ditching me," he mumbled.

"I'm going to have to ask you to carry Weevil sunshine," Mina said, ignoring him. She was about to pick up Rebecca when Valon showed up.

"Allow me," he offered, carrying Rebecca.

"Thanks," Mina sighed, as the four of them started walking.

"So," Valon started, looking up at Rebecca, "how did this little one get caught?"

"I don't know," Tea said, "I just found her like this only moments ago. It's a good thing Mina was nearby."

"Did you find anyone else?" Mina asked Valon.

"Just frightened duelists," he shrugged. "Told them to go inside and not ask any questions."

"I'm just worried about Yugi," Tea said quietly.

"Why Tea?" asked Mina.

"Because," she explained, "he's decided to go search the cave where Serena lost her spirit! Who know what could happen in there!"

"He went in there alone!?" Mina cried. "We have to find him!" she started running again, the jars inside the bag clattering this way and that.

"Doesn't this girl ever get tired?" Valon groaned, running after her.

"Apparently not." Kaiba murmured, following them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Psst! Pegasus!"

"What? Who said that?!"

"Down here!" Artemis hissed.

"Oh," Pegasus said, leaning down toward the two cats, "And what can I do for you?"

"We need to get into the control room again!" Luna explained, "It's an emergency!"

"What isn't?" he sighed, "Oh very well. I'll get all the guards out, there not used to talking cats you know."

Luna put on the headphone/speaker set and tried to get a connection. "Hello? Anyone out there?" she called out.

"Um…Mina," Artemis started, "you do remember that I was always the one who answered, right?"

"Yes," Luna answered, "but this is all we…hello? Yes, who is this?"

"Greetings Luna," a voice said. "I've been expecting you."

"Well I'll be a…" Artemis started.

"Shh!" Luna hissed. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Yes," the mysterious person drawled, "and I can assure you that help is on the way."

"Really? What…hello?" Luna shouted. "Oh no, I lost the connection."

"Well?" Artemis pounded, "What'd she say?"

"She said help is on the way." Luna sighed, "Let's just hope she's right."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Everybody calm down!" Pegasus roared, "No shoving! You there! Stop that! Aah you're finally here!" Pegasus motioned for Amy and the others to come over.

"Lita," Amy started, "where's Tristan?"

"Right here." She mumbled, carefully laying his body down.

"What!? Tristan!" Tea cried, coming over.

"Aww man," Joey sighed, "he lost."

"Funny," Kaiba muttered, "I thought that Wheeler would."

"That's it moneybags…!"

"Stop!" Mina shouted, "There's no time for arguing!" she glared at both of them. "Now, where's Yugi?"

"I'm over here," he said, stepping out. "Wha-…Rebecca!"

"Please," Pegasus urged, "Just lay all of the bodies in this room." He opened the door for them and they all rushed in.

On the bed were Serenity's, Tristan's, Weevil's, and Rebecca's body.

Over on one of the nightstand there were only three jars, Rebecca's, Weevil's, and Serenity's.

"They took Tristan's spirit too," Joey mumbled.

Lita gave a slight nod.

"Yugi," Tea started, "what did you find?"

"Behind the waterfall? Not much…I brought the black rose that Darien…I mean Black Crow threw." He handed the rose to Amy.

"Thanks Yugi." She said, "I'll see if there's anything suspicious about it. I'll also check the internet on the Phoenix." And then Amy left to her room.

"Are all of the duelists in?" Yugi asked after Amy had left.

"Raphael and Alister are checking the perimeter one more time." Valon shrugged.

"Where's Mokuba?" Kaiba asked, looking around.

"I'm right here Seto," Mokuba answered, coming inside the room.

"Wait a minute…" Raye said slowly, "Where's Duke? I haven't heard from him in a while."

"Oh he's sleeping," Pegasus answered. "The only one who can."

"Figures," Raye mumbled.

"Look! Look!" Luna cried, running toward them, Artemis not too far behind.

"LUNA!?" they all cried.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The ocean is getting restless…" Michelle commented, feeling the breeze through her hair.

"I feel a disturbance in time," Trista sighed, "something is definitely wrong."

"Do you think it's the enemy?"

"Let's hope not."

"Hey! What are you two doing here!?"

They turned to see Alister and Raphael standing behind them.

"Haven't you heard," Raphael told them, "Pegasus told everyone to get inside. That includes you two."

"We can take care of ourselves thank you." Michelle scoffed.

"You don't get it," Raphael said, "duelists that wander around get their spirits captured. What makes you think you can take them on?"

"Yeah," Alister agreed, "Didn't you learn from the first time? When Hotaru was captured? Rini?"

"And now they've got Serena," Raphael added.

"What?!" Trista gasped. "They have the queen?!"

"Well…I…don't know about that." He stumbled.

"They have Small Lady too," Michelle sighed.

"Are you going to come inside now?" Alister asked, impatient.

"Don't worry we'll be there," Michelle assured them.

After they both had left, Trista turned to Michelle. "What do we do without Small Lady and Serena? It's bad enough that Hotaru is gone."

"I don't know," Michelle sighed, "But we have to think of something. Our future depends on it."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All of the Aviators were crowded around Cardinal, observing her hangnail.

"Oh it's terrible!" she yelped. "That wretched girl!"

"ENOUGH!!!" Master Dove roared. "You incompetent fools! You just let three usable spirits slip away! And you're crying over a hangnail!"

"But you don't understand…"

"SILENCE! I called you here because we have a situation. Not only is Mistress 9 unable to control the girl inside of her, but Wicked Lady is having trouble with Rabbit as well."

"So what do you want us to do about it?" Hummingbird yawned.

"Extract the spirit."

"What?!"

"I have a device that will lure the former spirit out of the body and we shall keep it for ourselves."

"So? Where is it?" Parakeet asked.

"This," Dove said, holding up a small vial filled with a dark fluid. "This is it."

The girls gather around it, eying it carefully.

"Don't get too close!" he barked. "This is what we will use to extract the spirit out of their bodies!"

"So why don't we just use that on every person?" Blue Jay asked.

"Because…" Master Dove explained, "the ingredients used to make it are not found on this Earth. This is the only vial that I have. We must use it wisely."

"Got'cha boss, I'll do it!" Cardinal exclaimed, snatching the vial out of his hands.

"No give it to me!" Hummingbird whined, trying to grab it.

"Hand it over!" Dove yelled. "I'll do it!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mistress 9 and Wicked Lady were huddled in a corner, both of them recovering from the convulsions caused by the former hosts living inside of them.

"It'll be okay," Mistress 9 coughed, "Master Dove will get these monsters out of us!"

At that moment came in Master Dove. They both looked up, startled.

"Here," he said gently, tending to Mistress 9 first.

He tipped her head back and poured half of the vial's contents into her mouth. He poured the rest into Wicked Lady's.

"So how are their goody-goody spirits going to come out?" Blue Jay whispered to Parakeet. The Aviators were standing on the side, observing.

Before Parakeet could respond, everyone froze as they watched Mistress 9 and Wicked Lady coughing uncontrollably.

Right before their very eyes did they see them both cough up the violet spirit of Hotaru and the sugar pink spirit of Rini, the very same one that Yugi saw.

"So…they threw them up?" Hummingbird asked.

"Gross!" the others squealed.

Master Dove shot them a threatening look. He took two jars and caught the spirit in each of them, then labeled them, 'Hotaru' and 'Rini'.

"Here," he barked, throwing the Aviators the two jars, "go make yourselves useful and put these in the Phoenix Shrine!"

"Yes sir!" the said.

"I-I'm free," Mistress 9 breathed, "I'm free of Hotaru! No longer will I hear her screaming inside of me!"

"The only thoughts I can hear are mine!" Wicked Lady exclaimed, giddy.

"Excellent," Master Dove said, "So are you ready to serve the Legendary Phoenix?"

"Of course Master." Mistress 9 agreed.

"Absolutely!" Wicked Lady replied.

"Good," he chuckled, "now get going! We're going to need as many spirits as possible in order to awaken the Legendary Phoenix."

They both nodded and set out on their mission.

"What shall I do master?"

"Black Crow," Master Dove turned to him after his two loyal servants left, his eyes then lit up. "Oh! I see you've captured Neo-Queen Serenity's spirit. Good man!"

"Where should I put her?" he asked, holding up Serena's body.

"Put her in the holding room," Dove commanded. "But before you do…I'd like to see her spirit."

Black Crow handed the jar with Serena's spirit to Master Dove. "Beautiful," he murmured, turning it around and around. It was a pure white mist, but there was always a hint of gold inside. "The purest soul of them all. Here." He said, handing it back to him. "Put it beside Small Lady's. I'm sure they would want to be together."

"Yes my master." Black Crow replied, bowing to him before he left.

"Soon Phoenix," he whispered, "soon I'll have gathered enough spirits to awaken you. And we shall conquer this Earth once again!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What's up Luna?" Joey asked, confused.

"You look so out of breath," Amy commented.

"Luna…and I…" Artemis panted, "got something back from headquarters."

"Really?" Mina asked, her memories floating back to her life as Sailor V.

"Yes, look." Luna pushed a wrapped package before them. She paused after noticing her surroundings. "For Scouts eyes only." She said uneasily.

"Oh…okay." Yugi nodded. "Let's go you guys."

After everyone had left, Luna turned to the girls. "I'm sorry but I really wasn't sure if this was from headquarters or not. For all I know, this could be from the enemy! And I didn't want to put them in any danger."

"You did the right thing Luna," Raye assured her.

"There's no return address on here," Amy murmured, examining the box carefully.

"So…what should we do?" Mina asked.

"Well, let's open it!" Lita snatched the package out of Amy's hands and opened it before anyone could protest.

"Lita be careful!" Artemis barked.

Lita gasped. What she saw in the package was breathtaking.

"What? What is it?" Mina urged.

"See for yourselves." She murmured.

"Is this some kind of a joke!?" Luna sputtered.

"Apparently," Artemis muttered.

"They're beautiful," Mina breathed, pulling out a pair of angel wings from within the box.

"Look at this." Amy said, leafing through a book taken out of the package.

"A thunderbolt?" Lita pondered.

"There's also a pocket watch in here," Artemis commented.

"And a turquoise pendant." Luna added.

"This looks like a princess staff," Mina started, "and there's a diamond in here too!"

"This is pretty," Raye commented, holding up a red candle.

"What is all this stuff anyway?" Lita asked.

"Look there's a note," Amy pulled out the note and began to read:

_Dear Sailor Scouts,_

_You may be wondering if any of these things hold any importance during your mission. Let me assure you that these things are crucial to saving humanity and all of mankind. If you're wondering how to grab hold of their powers…well, you'll figure that out soon enough._

_Best of Luck,_

_Headquarters_

"Well," Artemis muttered after Amy had finished reading, "That was just about as clear as mud."

_Knock, knock, knock!_

"Who is it?" Raye called out.

"It's us."

Raye opened the door to find Michelle and Trista standing behind it.

"We heard your friends talking outside," Michelle explained. "What's going on?"

"Well apparently we've got some 'gifts' from headquarters." Artemis sighed.

"What kind of gifts?" Trista asked.

"Have a look see."

"Look here Trista," Michelle murmured, holding out the stopwatch to her, "You're the Guardian of Time. This must be fore you."

"And this turquoise necklace must be yours."

"Okay," Lita said slowly, "you've got some new jewelry. So what?"

"Mina…" Michelle started. "Try to transform."

"Excuse me?"

"Transform into Sailor Venus please."

Mina shrugged and looked at the other girls. Then she held up her transformation pen high. "Venus Crystal Power!"

She blinked. Nothing happened. She hadn't transformed.

"It's not working!" she cried out.

"Exactly." Michelle answered.

"Where are you getting at?" Trista asked.

"I think," she started, "that from now on we'll be using these to transform."

"But…" Amy started, "we usually all have the same pens. These items are different."

"Yeah and we don't know what belongs to who." Lita added.

"I get it." Trista whispered. She took one of the items out of the box and held it out to Mina. "Wings for the Goddess of Love and Beauty, Venus."

Mina took the wings, stunned.

Michelle nodded and handed the book to Amy. "Goddess of Wisdom, Mercury."

"God of Sky and Thunder, Jupiter." Lita held fast on to the thunderbolt.

"So this is mine?" Raye asked, holding up the candle.

"God of War." Luna nodded.

"Plus you've also got some fire power in ya." Artemis chuckled.

"So then…who are these for?" Lita asked, holding up a ribbon, rock, diamond, and staff.

"These must be fore Serena, Hotaru, Amara and Rini." Luna said quietly.

"Well the rock is definitely for Amara." Lita said.

"And the diamond has to be for Bunny," Amy thought.

"Rini is a future princess, so the staff could be hers," Mina added.

"But I don't see what a ribbon has to do with Hotaru…" Raye murmured, holding up the long, silky, violet ribbon, the kinds that gymnasts used.

"It's soft and beautiful," Michelle murmured, "yet it's always flowing in the wind."

"It's meant for beauty," Trista added. "but it can break so easily."

"Just like Hotaru." Amy said.

"We can't do this." Mina whispered dropping her wings into the box.

"Mina?" Artemis asked.

Mina looked up, tears forming in her eyes. "We can't do this without Bunny. She's the one that leads us. It just wouldn't feel right…"

Raye laid a hand on her shoulder but Mina shrugged away.

"We were supposed to protect the queen," Mina shook, "she was the whole reason for my existence! My duty to protect her was even more important than love!!!" And with that, Mina burst through the door and started running, past Kaiba, running away from all of her worries, hoping that she could leave them behind.


	10. Ch 10: The End?

_Your love will be hopeless for all eternity…your fate is to continue fighting…your true battle begins now._

Those were Ace's last few words before he fell off the edge of the cliff. Mina fell down to her knees and started to cry. "How can I keep fighting when the one I'm fighting for is already gone!?" she cried. _Will I never be able to love?_ She thought to herself. _Serena…Bunny I need you! I can't do this! I can't fight without you!_

"Mina."

She looked up, startled. Standing behind her was Seto Kaiba, his eyes full of concern.

"What do you want?" she said bitterly, wiping the tears from her eyes.

He didn't say anything, just continued to walk. Mina went after him, curious.

"You never told me what your dream was." He said.

"Does it matter?" she scoffed. "A dream is a dream because it never comes true."

"That's not what you told me."

"Well I was wrong!" she shouted. "When you're born, your fate is already set, and there isn't anything you can do about it."

"So what are you trying to say?"

"That I'm never going to be a star!" she cried. "That I'm going to spend my whole life protecting the princess and I'll never fall in love, or get married, or travel around the world…" at that she started to cry again.

Mina cursed herself for acting like a baby. "Just leave me alone." She mumbled, settling herself onto the floor.

Kaiba sat down beside her. "You know," he started, "I had my doubts for when I started KaibaCorp. I thought I wasn't going to make it."

Mina looked up at this. "So what made you go on?" she sniffed.

"The most important person in my life. Mokuba. He never gave up on me, even when I was against him."

Mina shook her head, confused. "But…what does that have to do with me?"

Seto stared at her, his eyes burning into hers. "Serena. She pushes you forward. If you really want to save her, you've got to get up and do something about it. Crying about it isn't going to bring her back."

She nodded, standing up. "You're right. But…I wasn't there for her. When she dueled Da-…I mean, Black Crow. I should have known what happened."

Kaiba stood up and placed his hands on both her shoulders. Mina looked up at him. "The only person that does," he started, "is gone."

Mina leaned into him, resting her head on his chest. _Not Darien…_she thought sadly.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Black Crow was in the forbidden lair, where Master Dove stowed away all of the captured spirits. He was staring at one in particular, Serena's, it's mist as white as the moon, with a golden tint to it.

His memories drifted, back to the duel…

_Serena walked into the cave behind the waterfall, unsure of herself. He said he wanted to meet me here, she thought. Maybe he came to apologize. She froze when she saw him, and then broke out into a huge smile._

_"Darien!" she yelped, running toward him, about to capture him in an embrace._

_But Darien stopped her short, placing his hand up, rejecting her. _

_"D-darien?" she stuttered, scared. His eyes…they were so cold, not like they usually were, full of light and hope._

_"Serena," he said. "it's been a while."_

_"Darien I'm so glad you came!" She replied, sending all assumptions to the back of her mind._

_"I have a favor to ask you." He said quietly, so quietly, that Serena thought she had heard it in her mind._

_"Of course…anything for you."_

_"I want to duel you."_

_"A…a duel? Is that the only reason you came? To duel me?" Her voice was rising without her even realizing it._

_This isn't working…he thought angrily. I need a better approach. He suddenly swept Serena into his arms and murmured, "It'll be fun Buns."_

_A million thoughts swarmed into Serena's mind. "Okay." She smiled, flushed._

_"Get ready," he said, activating his duel disk._

_"All set." She said, activating hers._

_"Let's duel!"_

_"You can go first!" he barked._

_"Oh…um…okay." Serena drew a card from her deck. "I'll just summon Gemini Elf in attack mode and place one card face down. It's your move Darien."_

_"Thanks I know." He replied dryly. "Now I'll activate Different Dimension Capsule! This allows me to take any card from my deck and remove it from play."_

_"Okay…"_

_"Then it comes back during my second standby phase."_

_What card did he choose?_

_"Now," Darien continued, "I'll summon Dark Valkirya! And I'll activate the Spell Card Different Dimension Gate!"_

_"What's that do?" Serena gasped._

_"Here's how it works," he explained, "I remove one monster from my side of the field from play, and remove one monster on your side of the field from play. And as long as this card remains face up on the field, they won't come back."_

_"Oh no!"_

_"I'll end my turn." He finished._

_Okay. Serena thought. I lost a really strong monster. This is where the heart of the cards thing is supposed to kick in! C'mon…! Serena drew her card. Yes!_

_"Hurry it up." Darien muttered, "I don't have all day."_

_What's the matter with him? "I'll summon Familiar Possessed Wynn in Attack Mode!"_

_This isn't good. Darien thought._

_"Now my monster will attack you directly!" Serena yelled._

_"Grr…" Darien was left with 2150 Life Points._

_"You know I didn't mean that Darien sweetie!" Serena giggled._

_"Whatever."_

_His eyes…Serena thought, they're so cold! Why does he seem…different?_

_"It's my move!" Darien told her. "I summon my Dark Jeroid in attack mode, and its Special Effect decreases your monster's attack points by 800!"_

_"Oh no!" Serena gasped._

_"Now Dark Jeroid!" Darien yelled, "Attack her Familiar-Possessed – Wynn!"_

_Serena shielded herself from the attack. She had 3850 Life Points._

_"Okay…" she panted, drawing. "I'll just summon my Witch of the Black Forest in Defense Mode and end my turn."_

_"Ha!" Darien snorted. "You've already lost!" He paused, then added, "Remember the card removed from play by Different Dimension Capsule?"_

_"What about it?"_

_"Well that card gets returned to my hand! And now I'll activate it! The Field Spell Card, Skies of Lost Spirits!"_

_Serena gasped._ _No! It can't be! Darien is…the enemy?_

_"D-darien…" she stuttered. "What are you doing with that card?!?"_

_"I'm here to capture the purest soul of them all," he grinned, "yours Serena!"_

_"NO!" she cried. That's the same card used to capture Rini's spirit! I can't let this happen!_

_"Now," he continued, "I'll summon Goblin Black Ops in Attack Mode and equip it with Mist Body and Axe of Despair!"_

_"Darien, please no…"_

_"Due to its Special Effect, my Goblin can now attack you directly! Go Goblin Black Ops!"_

_"Aaahhh!" Serena was down to 1150 Life Points._

_"Unfortunately, my Goblin switches to Defense Mode. So I'll place this card face down and end my turn."_

_What do I do? Serena thought miserably. If I lose, then I can't save Rini…or Darien. But if I win…then Darien will lose his spirit._

_"Are you gonna draw today?" Darien asked brusquely. _

_Serena's hand shook as she drew her card. She cleared her throat. "I-I'll…summon Magical Exemplar in Attack Position. And I'll equip it with Mage Power. I activate Offerings to the Doomed…"_

_"Oh no!"_

_"To destroy your Goblin. I'll place a card face down and switch my witch to Attack Mode. Now Magical Exemplar…attack Dark Jeroid!"_

_"Aaarrggh…" Darien had 150 Life Points left._

_Serena felt tears running down her cheeks. This is it, one more attack and he's finished. "Now Witch of the Black Forest…attack Darien's Life Points directly!"_

_"Not so fast!"_

_"Huh?!"_

_"I activate Escape from the Dark Dimension, Special Summoning my Dark Valkirya!"_

_"I'll end my turn."_

_If I don't win this duel, Darien thought stubbornly, Master Dove will have my spirit too._

_"All right! I draw! I summon my Mystic Tomato in Defense Mode and switch my Dark Valkirya to Defense Position. It's your move."_

_"Darien why are you doing this?!" Serena cried. "What's gotten into you? What happened?"_

_"Master Dove opened my eyes to the truth!" Darien barked. "He showed me that there is nothing to live for without the Legendary Phoenix!"_

_Serena took a step back. The Legendary Phoenix?_

_"Now if you don't mind," he said, "I'd like to finish this duel so I can complete my mission."_

_She took a deep breath. I don't know if I can do this. "I'll summon Herald of Creation in Attack Mode. Magical Exemplar attack his Mystic Tomato!"_

_"You've activated its Special Effect! Once Mystic Tomato is sent to the graveyard as a result of battle, I get to Special Summon 1 Dark Monster with an attack of 1500 or less from my Deck in face-up Attack Position. And I'll choose Armageddon Knight. And with its Special Effect I get to send on Dark monster from my Deck to my Grave."_

_"Okay. Witch of the Black Forest attack his Dark Valkirya!"_

_Oh no…Darien thought angrily, if she attacks with her Herald of Creation, I'll lose!_

_"Serena!" Darien said weakly._

_"Darien!" Serena gasped. She was about to run over to him but he stopped her, raising his hand._

_"Don't…" he coughed, "you have to finish this duel."_

_"Darien…"_

_"Don't worry about me Buns," he smiled, "I'll be okay."_

_Tears spilled over Serena's eyes and she missed Darien's wicked smile. _

_All I have to do, she thought, is attack his Armageddon Knight and I win. But can I do that? _

_As she was about to call her attack she cried out, "I can't! I can't do it Darien!"_

_"End your turn Buns," Darien said softly, "and I'll take care of it."_

_"But…how?"_

_"If we tie…then neither of us loses."_

_"Okay." She said confidently, "I'll end my turn."_

_"Fool!" he laughed. "I can't believe you thought Darien was actually speaking to you!"_

_"What!?" she squeaked. How could I have fallen for that?!_

_"Now I'll finish you off once and for all!" But before he did anything, he transformed into Tuxedo Mask.  
"Tuxedo Mask!"_

_"Wrong," he corrected, "from now on, you'll see me as Black Crow! Loyal servant of Master Dove!"_

_"Now," Black Crow continued, "since I have 4 Dark monsters in my Graveyard, I can tribute one Dark monster on the field to the all powerful Darklord Zerato!"_

_"No!"_

_"But I'm not done there! By sending one Dark monster from my hand to the Grave, I can destroy all monsters on your side of the field!"_

_Serena helplessly watched her monsters disintegrate before her very eyes._

_"Now Darklord Zerato!" Black Crow screamed, "End this duel and hand her spirit over to me!"_

_"NOOOO!!!!" In her last few moments, Serena pictured everyone's smiling faces. I'm sorry everyone…I tried. And fell to the ground._

_Black Crow watched from afar and then snatched her pure spirit into the jar, then quickly hid in the shadows as he saw someone approaching._

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Yoo hoo!" Cardinal called out, snapping her fingers in front of Darien's face. "Yo Crow, you in there?"

"What do you think's wrong with him?" Hummingbird asked.

Cardinal shrugged, and then yelped. Crow had crushed her fingers when she had attempted to bring him back again.

"I can hear you." He muttered.

"Well then hurry up!" Cardinal yelled, "Master Dove is wondering where you are!"

"Yeah he needs us!" Blue Jay squealed.

"All right." But before he left, he looked at the jar next to Serena's. To her left was Rini's, and to her right was…Darien's. It was a midnight blue, with a hint of silver mist.

"Pathetic." He mumbled, and then he was gone.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I hope Mina's okay." Raye mumbled, worried, opening the blinds a crack.

"I think she'll be fine." Lita assured her.

"But she might run into the enemy!" Amy said.

"Yes," Luna said, "but don't forget, she has Seto Kaiba with her."

"That's right," Artemis agreed, "there's no way she could get into any danger with him around."

Amy and Raye nodded, now calmer.

As if on cue, there was an urgent rap on the door.

"GUYS!!!! We've got trouble!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You're late." Master Dove mumbled.

"Sorry Master." The Aviators said, bowing.

"What do you need us for sir?" Cardinal asked.

He turned away from them, and then stared at the huge mural above him, of the Legendary Phoenix. "We have captured many spirits," he mused, "but we need more."

"I'll be right on it sir." Black Crow said.

"No, not you."

The others looked up, confused.

"I won't be needing you right now. Blue Jay, Cardinal, Parakeet, and Hummingbird. This task requires you four."

Black Crow nodded and left.

"Whatever it is, we'll do it!" Parakeet said.

"Now we'll need the spirits of the Guardian Scouts of the Princess."

"And they are…?"

"Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Mercury!" he barked.

"Oh of course!" they said.

"But how do we do that?" Blue Jay asked. "That Pegasus guy has kept all the duelists inside. There's no way he's going to let anyone out!"

"Then you'll just have to think of something! Now get going! I'm losing my patience with you."

"Yes sir!"

When they were sure they were out of Dove's earshot, they started to whisper.

"How do we lure them out?"

"We have to find someone gullible."

"Someone everyone will go after."

The paused, then all chanted, "Mokuba!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mokuba was in one of the lower rooms, staring out the window, waiting for his older brother to come back. He sighed. _Seto where are you?_

"I know where your brother is."

"Huh?! Who said that!?" Mokuba gasped.

"Don't be alarmed Mokuba," a soothing voice said, "we're your friends."

"W-what do you want from me?"

"Why, we just want to take you to you brother. He's been very worried about you."

"Please!" Mokuba cried, "Please take me to him!"

"Follow us. Oh, and don't tell anyone."

Without a moment's hesitation, Mokuba jumped out of the window and followed the girls, the ones he'll soon find out to be…the Aviators.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What is it Joey?" Amy asked, opening the door.

"Mokuba!" he shouted. "He's missing!"

"Missing!?" the others gasped.

"Are you sure about that?" Artemis asked, "Maybe he's with Kaiba."

"How can he be," Kaiba answered, "when I'm right here!"

"Okay, let's not panic." Lita said.

"Yeah," Mina agreed, stepping from behind Kaiba, "you guys check the inside of the castle, we'll look outside."

"But…" Kaiba started.

"There's no time to waste!" she cried, running outside before anyone else could say another word.

"Wait up Mina!" Amy shouted, the other girls running after her.

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"That wasn't very nice of you Mina," Luna panted after they all caught up with her, "you shouldn't have run off like that."

"I know." She said quietly. "Let's split up! If you see anything suspicious just shout!"

"Right!"

Mina and Artemis started to run, furiously trying to find any signs of Mokuba.

"So…" Artemis panted, "what…were you and Kaiba…talking about?"

"Artemis!" she scolded.

"Wait!" Artemis stopped.

"What? What is it?!"

"Do you hear that?"

"Hear what???"

"….laughter."

"Huh?" Mina strained to listen better. Then she heard it also. "GUYS!" she shouted, "I THINK WE'VE FOUND MOKUBA!!!"

She turned to Artemis. "Hopefully they heard that. Now c'mon, let's go!"

Now they were sprinting even faster until they stopped dead in their tracks. There he was Mokuba, jumping up and down, while there were four other girls around him, throwing something back and forth.

"What is he doing?" Artemis shouted, "playing Monkey in the Middle!?"

"Hey!" Mina yelled at the Aviators, "What do you think you're doing picking on a little kid like that!?"

"Mina!" Mokuba smiled.

"We're just having a little fun." Hummingbird snorted.

"Little maggots! Give that back to him!" she snatched whatever it was they were holding. _A Duel Monsters card? _She thought skeptically. Then she noticed that it was a necklace. She opened it up then gasped. Inside of it was a picture. A picture of Kaiba when he was younger. _Aww, _she thought, _he looks so happy._

"Here you go Mokuba," she said softly.

"Thanks Mina!"

"All right!" Raye said. "We're here!"

"What's going on?" Lita asked.

"Is everyone okay?" Luna and Amy asked.

"Oh this is just too perfect!" Cardinal cackled.

"I never thought it would be this easy!" Blue Jay giggled.

"Yeah," Parakeet said, capturing Mokuba in an iron grasp, "you fell right into our trap!"

The girls gasped.

"Let him go!" Mina shouted.

"What do you creeps want!?" Ray asked.

"We want a duel." Hummingbird said.

"So we can capture your spirits." Cardinal finished.

"If you don't duel us…" Blue Jay started, "then you can just kiss your little friend goodbye!"

_No! Mokuba! _"All right!" Mina sighed, "If we duel you will you let him go?"

"That's more like it." Parakeet released Mokuba.

"Mokuba, run!" Amy yelled.

"Luna, Artemis," Ray told them, "you go with him."

"Right!" they nodded.

"So what's this going to be?" Amy asked. "Four on four?"

"We thought very carefully about this," Cardinal explained, "Master Dove chose who our opponents will be. I duel the Scout whose guarded by the planet Mars!"

"And I duel the scout of Love and Beauty, Sailor Venus!" Hummingbird said.

"I get to duel Princess Mercury!" Blue Jay squealed.

"And I'm going to duel you Lita!"

Amy, Mina, Ray and Lita, backed up until they were standing shoulder to shoulder, creating a small square in the middle of them.

"You ready for this?" Lita asked.

"Um…let me think." Raye paused. "No."

"Just think," Mina said eagerly, "if we defeat them, we can save all the others!"

"That's a big IF Mina," Amy sighed.

"It's that kind of optimistic," Hummingbird laughed, "that will be your downfall!"

"LET'S DUEL!" they shouted.


	11. Ch 11: And Then There Were Some

Mokuba was panting like crazy, with Luna and Artemis at each of his sides.

_This is all my fault, _he thought sadly, _if they lose, it'll be because of me!_

Mokuba hadn't realized that he had just spoken aloud.

"That's not true Mokuba," Luna said.

"Yeah, and don't worry," Artemis added, "they won't lose."

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_Oh we are so going to lose! _Mina thought.

"I'll go first!" Mina said.

"Go ahead," replied Hummingbird, "you'll need all the help you can get."

"Doh! You are so going to get it! I summon Gelenduo in Defense Mode and place one card face down and end my turn!"

"Bout time. Prepare to lose! First I summon Ehren, Lightsworn Monk, in Attack Mode! Next I activate the Spell Card, Solar Recharge! By discarding one Lightsworn monster from my hand, I get to draw two cards, but the top two cards of my deck get sent to the Graveyard. Oh, look at that! One of the cards was Wulf, Lightsworn Beast! Its effect allows me to automatically summon it to the field!

Now Ehren, attack her Gelenduo! Due to Ehren's effect, Gelenduo get returned to your deck. Now Wulf attack her directly…!"

"Not so fast!" Mina shouted, "I activate my face down card, Enchanted Javelin!"

"So it's as if you didn't lose anything, big whoop!" Hummingbird sighed. "I'll place this face-down and end my turn. But Ehren's effect sends the top three cards of my deck to the Grave."

Hummingbird looked at the three cards. Then grinned.

"What? What is it?!"

"One of the cards was Lightsword Saber," Hummingbird answered.

"SO???"

"So…now I can equip it to Wulf, raising its attack points by 700! For a grand total of 2800 ATK points!"

"Oh no!" Mina gasped.

_So Hummingbird's got a Lightsworn deck…how am I supposed to beat that???_

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"You're going down!" Lita yelled.

"Bring it!" Parakeet retorted.

"Fine! I will! And I'll start off by summoning Getsu Fuhma in Attack Position! Then I'll throw this face-down and end my turn!"

"It's my move! I summons The Six Samurai – Zanji in Attack Mode and attack your Getsu Fuhma! That'll be all for now."

"Grrr…" Lita just lost 100 Life Points.

_Are there more of these Six Samurai monsters? If there are, then I'm in big trouble!_

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"Let's make this quick okay?" Cardinal asked impatiently.

"Thanks for being so patient," Raye said dryly. "I'll Charcoal Inpachi in Defense Mode (2100) and I'll place this face-down." _Wait until she gets a load of my Needle Wall!_

"I draw…"

"Hold on!" Raye yelled, "I activate my face-down card, Needle Wall!"

"What does that do?"

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Whatever. I summon Banisher of Radiance in Attack Mode (1600) and throw a card face-down and end my turn!"

_That's a strange monster, _Raye thought, _What's she up to…?_

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"I'll just summon Maiden of the Aqua (2000) in Defense Mode and end my turn," an unconfident Amy finished.

"Ok!" Blue Jay said. "Then I'll just summon Alien Shocktrooper (1900) in Attack Position and end my turn!"

_Oh no, I've read about these monsters! Aliens are nothing but trouble!_

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"GUYS! GUYS!" Mokuba shouted, barging through the doors of Pegasus' castle.

"Mokuba!" Seto sighed with relief, hugging Mokuba.

"Big brother!" he said urgently, "You have to come quick! Amy, Lita, Raye, and Mina are in a duel!"

"What!?" Joey yelled. "How'd that happened?"

Mokuba hung his head, ashamed. "It's all because of me."

Kaiba put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't say that," he said quietly.

"Well let's go!" Téa told them, "Or else we'll miss their duels!"

"Téa's right let's go!" Yugi said.

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"How are you holding up?" Mina whispered to Lita.

"I think I can actually win this thing! You?"

"Hmm…."

"MINA!" Artemis yelled. "Mina we're here!"

"Artemis!?" Mina gasped.

"We're here too!" Yugi panted.

"Raye!" Duke said.

"Oh, hey Duke!"

"ENOUGH!!!" Cardinal shouted. "You!" She pointed to Yugi and the others. "You can watch, just don't talk! And you…." She pointed to the four duelists, "duel!"

"Okay, okay." Everyone mumbled.

"Why are you doing this?" Rebecca shouted, "What are you going to get out of this!?"

"Freedom!" Parakeet shouted. "We can finally be free!"

"HUH?" Everyone said.

"What are you talking about?" Luna asked.

"Humans!" Hummingbird snorted, "Why are they on this Earth?"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Joey asked.

"Once Master Dove gets rid of all you humans," Blue Jay explained, "the birds will be free we'll be able to fly around whenever we please!"

"Since the day man came all you have been is trouble!" Cardinal exploded. "You cut down all the trees to build your houses! You waste energy! You kill animals as a sport! Well not anymore! Birds were here long before you insolent humans! And now you'll get what you deserve!"

"And what is that?" Yugi asked.

"Punishment!" Hummingbird said, "The birds are attacking that castle as we speak."

"Attacking it?" Duke asked.

Blue Jay nodded vigorously. "Master Dove sent them their to capture the rest of the spirits."

"Oh no! Yugi," Téa whispered, "We left Serenity's, Tristan's, and Weevil's spirits there!"

"Think of all the other people Téa," Yugi replied.

"Can we get on with this duel?" Cardinal asked.

It was like this:

Mina had Ruin, Queen of Oblivion in Defense Mode and had just switched her Forgiving Maiden to Defense Mode.

Lita was left with 50 Life Points, she had just equipped her Sonic Maid with Sword of Deep-Seated and attacked The Six Samurai – Yariza, leaving Parakeet with 50 Life Points.

Raye destroyed D.D. Assailant with Needle Wall and summons Darkfire Soldier #1 in Attack Mode and destroyed Cardinal's D.D. Master. Unfortunately though, due to its effect, both of them get removed from play and Cardinal gains 1000 Life Points.

And Amy just summoned Gora Turtle in Defense Mode.

Now the Aviators were all on the same page. They looked at each other and nodded.

"We activate the Skies of the Lost Spirits!" They shouted simultaneously.

"NO!" they all shouted.

Thunderclouds started to form up above, causing raging winds to swirl around them. Soon, a dark mist was covering all four duels, blocking the view for Yugi and the others.

"Hey!" Joey exclaimed, "we can't see!"

"Duh dummy." Kaiba mumbled.

"What's going to happen?" Mokuba cried.

As quickly as the darkness had formed, it was beginning to fade.

Everyone gasped as they saw the four that were lying on the ground.

"No…" Téa whispered.

"It can't be." Joey said.

"MINA!!!" Mokuba shouted, running toward her.

"Ugh…" the girls groaned. It was obvious now that Mina, Amy, Lita and Raye had just lost their duels. Although they were still conscious. For now.

"Amy…" Joey gasped, "Amy are you all right?"

"I…think so."

"Raye." Duke said, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Raye wake up!"

Raye was dipping into and out of consciousness. "Mmm…"

Mina was in Kaiba's arms. "Sunshine," she murmured, "can't you smile just once?"

"M-mina…" he stuttered, on the verge of tears. And this was a new thing for him.

Mokuba on the other hand, had a lot of experience. The tears were flowing freely. "Mina…" he cried, "Mina no!"

She ruffled his hair. "Take care kiddo."

Kaiba felt something slide into his hand. It was Mina's deck. He looked at her questioningly.

"I think you'll be needing this."

"This is all my fault…" he stuttered.

"Don't." she interrupted. Mina laid her hand on his cheek. "It's not your fault Seto…"

"Mina…." He froze as he stared into her eyes. For a moment he saw the Blue Eyes White Dragon there. Now…it was gone.

Mina closed her eyes as her body went limp.

"LITA!!!" Yugi screamed.

"Please don't go…" Téa whispered.

"Ugh, spare us the waterworks," Parakeet mumbled.

"We don't have time for this!" Cardinal huffed. "Come on!"

The four swooped in with their angel-like wings and snatched the bodies of the scouts, along with their spirits. Mina's was a pure orange, Raye's, fire red, Lita's was a bright green, and Amy's was ocean blue.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Kaiba shouted, when he felt that Mina was not longer in his arms.

"What, you think we did this for nothing?" Hummingbird scoffed.

"See ya later, losers!" Cardinal cackled, as the Aviators flew off toward the Nest.

"Those jerks!!!" Joey shouted.

_I don't believe it…_Yugi thought. _First Hotaru, then Rini, Serena, now all the others are gone too? Oh this is all my fault! I should have never gotten them into this!!!_

"Yugi…are you okay?" Téa sniffed.

"No Téa," Yugi answered. "I'm not." He stood up, squaring his shoulders.

"Yug?" Joey started.

"This has gone too far." He said stiffly. "I've got to put an end to this. Right now!"

"So what?" Kaiba shouted. "So you can be the hero that you always are?"

"This isn't about me Kaiba! Open your eyes!" Yugi yelled. "Innocent lives have been lost! This has to stop!"

"But why should you be the one to stop it?" Duke challenged.

"You guys just don't understand…"

"Yugi." Téa said firmly.

Everyone looked up at her voice of authority.

"We began as a team, we're going to end as a team. You can't expect us to let you face these guys alone and just watch from the sidelines! We're here for you Yugi, for better or worse."

"Sheesh Téa we're not gettin' married here, we just wanna help!" Joey sighed.

Yugi sighed. "All right." He said.

"Great then let's go find those creeps that took Amy and my sister's spirit!"

"Yeah!" the others shouted in unison. Well…except for Kaiba of course.

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"You think we'll be safe here?" Michelle whispered to Trista. They both hid in one of the closets and locked the door when they heard the birds flying in.

"For now."

"I hope Alister's okay." Michelle murmured.

"I thought you didn't like him."

Michelle's cheeks turned red. "I don't! It's just…"

"Shh!!!" Trista clamped her hand over Michelle's mouth. "Someone's coming!"

"Anyone here?" a voice too muffled to tell if it was a boy or a girl asked.

"I don't think so."

"Did you check the closet?"

"No."

"Well then go check the closet!"

"All right, all right, no need to have a cow!"

Trista and Michelle gasped. They heard footsteps coming.

"Let's transform!" Michelle suggested.

"We can't, remember? Not until we harness our new powers!"

"Well now would be a perfect time for those to kick in!"

They huddled into the corner as they heard someone trying to twist the doorknob open.

"Ugh, it's stuck!"

"Oh you are so pathetic! Here! Let me,"

Something so powerful shattered the door open, bits of wood and metal covered the floor.

"There you are."

Wicked Lady grabbed Trista by the throat, backing her up against the wall. Mistress 9 did the same.

"You thought you could escape." Wicked Lady breathed. "But we found you."

"And now your spirits are ours for the taking!" Mistress 9 snickered.

"Sm-small Lady no…" Trista choked out.

"Hotaru…" Michelle said weakly.

"SHUT UP!!!" They both said furiously, flinging Trista and Michelle across the room.

Both struggled to get up. But Mistress 9 was holding them down with her dark power.

"You'll duel us," Wicked Lady said fiercely. "And when we win we'll gather up your spirits and bring them back to Master Dove."

"Where he'll place them in the Phoenix Shrine for the awakening of the Phoenix." Mistress 9 finished.

Trista and Michelle looked at each other, thinking the same thing. _Do we have a choice?_

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This will be a tag team duel!" Mistress 9 roared.

"Each of us will have 2000 Life Points," Wicked Lady explained, "if any you go down to 0, both you and your partner will lose."

"Wait, that's not fair…" Michelle protested.

"SILENCE!" Shouted Mistress 9, "We make the rules around here, and so we expect YOU to follow them."

"You guys get to go first," Wicked Lady smirked, "seeing as you need the help."

"Do you want to go first, Trista?" Michelle asked.

Trista raised her head, looking squarely into Wicked Lady's eyes. She could tell that there was absolutely no sign of Rini in there, so she would have to give this duel her all.

Trista nodded. "I draw," she started, "I summon Blizzard Dragon in ATK mode (1800), and end my turn."

"Pathetic!" Wicked Lady snorted. "I summon Gladiator Beast Darius and equip it with Gladiator Beast's Battle Gladius! So now it has 2000 Attack Points! I'll end my turn."

"Why didn't she attack?" Trista whispered.

Wicked Lady had heard her. "None of us can attack until AFTER Michelle's turn. Because if we could," she pointed to Michelle, "she would already be gone."

Michelle scowled. "I'll show you!" She drew her card then smiled. "I activate Fortress Whale's Oath, discarding a level seven monster to Special Summon, Fortress Whale (2350)! Next, I activate Monster Reborn to Special Summon the card I just discarded…!"

_What is it!? _Mistress 9 thought.

"…SuperAncient Deepsea King Coelacanth (2800)! Because both of those were Special Summons, I can now normal summon 7 Colored Fish in Attack Mode (1800)! But I'm not done there…!"

"When will you be done!?!?" Wicked Lady shouted.

"Don't interrupt! I activate the Field Spell Card, Umi! So now all of my monsters gain an additional 200 ATK Points! There! Now I'm done! How do you like that?"

"Excellent job Michelle!" Trista nodded. _But we've still got a long way to go…_

"You're success won't last!" Mistress 9 shouted, "Because it's my move! I activate Pandemonium! And since it's also a Field Spell Card, Umi gets destroyed!"

"Oh no!" Michelle gasped.

"I'll also summon Archfiend General in ATK mode and equip it with Axe of Despair!"

_It has 3100! _Trista thought frantically.

"I'll take you out first!" Mistress 9 continued. "Archfiend General, attack her 7 Colored Fish!"

"NOO!!" Michelle shouted, bracing herself against the attack. She had 700 Life Points left. _If I lose we'll both lose!_

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yugi and the gang were hidden behind a bunch of bushes, they were spying on the castle.

"It looks okay…" Téa murmured.

"Yeah, but what was one of them Aviators talkin' about?" Joey asked. "The birds?"

"We better go check it out." Yugi said. The others nodded and followed him inside.

"What happened here?" Duke asked, looking around. The castle was a complete mess, furniture was knocked over, glass was shattered, and an entire array of duelists was sprawled out all across the main room.

"Guess they already got here…" Mokuba mumbled. He hid behind his older brother's back, afraid.

"YUGI!!!" A voice cried out.

"Pegasus!" they all gasped.

"Yugi…" he panted, "thank…goodness you're here."

"Pegasus what happened!?" Yugi shook him.

"I…I don't know," he stuttered, "at first everything was normal, and then…just a whole flock of birds swooped through the windows…and they transformed! Into humans! The duelists thought it was part of the tournament and I tried to stop them but…but then it was too late."

"Are there any left?" Téa asked.

Pegasus nodded. "Alister, Valon and Raphael are still here."

"But what about Michelle and Trista?" Yugi asked. "Where are they?"

"I…I don't know." He answered, defeated.

"What a pathetic loser," Kaiba scoffed, "let's go Mokuba."

"Kaiba, wait!" Yugi shouted. "We shouldn't split up, it's dangerous!"

"Does it look like I care Yugi?"

"Eh, let the rich boy go," Joey mumbled, "if he wants to get his spirit captured, let him."

Yugi turned back to Kaiba. "Be careful Kaiba."

"Whatever."

"Let's start looking for Michelle and Trista," Yugi said.

"Okay." The others nodded.

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"It's my turn!" Wicked Lady yelled. When she drew her card she grinned deviously. "And it's your last! Because I activate the Skies of Lost Spirits!"

The ground started to quake, the sky above them went from sky blue to pitch black. The wind roared and swirled about. Michelle and Trista could hardly stay on their feet.

Both Wicked Lady and Mistress 9 were laughing deceitfully, there dresses swirling through the wind.

_This isn't good…_Trista thought.

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"Yugi!" Téa yelled, pointing outside one of the shattered windows, "LOOK!!!"

"Someone's activated the Skies of Lost Spirits," he said.

"But who do you think's dueling?" Duke asked.

"Let's go find out!" Joey yelled, running outside.

"Joey!" Yugi yelled. "Wait for us!" The others ran after him, unaware that they were about to lose two more friends.

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_Hmm…_Wicked Lady thought, _I know how to win this duel. _"I summon Gladiator Beast Retiari in Attack Mode and equip it with Gladiator Beast's Battle Archfiend Shield!"

_What does that do!? _Trista thought.

"It's your move scout whose Guardian Planet is Neptune."

_That monster…_Michelle thought, _it only has 1200 Attack Points! If I attack it with King Coelacanth, we'll win!_

"Michelle wait!" Trista said.

"Trista if I attack her monster we'll win!"

"But I don't think…!"

"King Coelacanth, attack Gladiator Beast Retiari!"

"Fool!" Wicked Lady cackled.

"What?!" Michelle gasped.

"Since my monster is equipped with Gladiator Beast's Battle Archfiend Shield, the equip card gets destroyed instead of my monster!"

"Oh…I didn't realize…"

"Now it's time to finish you off!" Mistress 9 started, "For now I activate Skies of the Lost Spirits!"

"Not again…!" Trista grunted, shielding herself against the hurricane-like winds.

"I summon Infernalqueen Archfiend in Attack Mode (900), and I'll attack your King Coelacanth with Archfiend General!"

Michelle was down to 750 Life Points. She felt her knees give way as she hit the ground.

"Michelle…?"

"I lost…" she whispered, "It's all my fault…I should have listened to you…"

"It's not your fault Michelle…" Trista said soothingly.

Tears streamed down Michelle's cheeks. _Goodbye Amara…goodbye Alister…_

"Now Infernalqueen Archfiend…" Mistress 9 started, "finish her off! And hand both their spirits over for the awakening of the Legendary Phoenix!!!"

Michelle took the final blow, falling hard to the ground.

_MICHELLE! MICHELLE!_

"Who's there…?" she murmured. She was hearing voices.

The smoke started to fade away and she saw a figure standing over her.

"A-amara?" she said weakly.

"Close." A throaty chuckle. "But not quite." Alister bent over and kissed Michelle's forehead before she lost all consciousness.

"Y-yugi…" Trista started, "It's up to you now…you have to defeat Master Dove before he awakens the Phoenix." She was holding fast on to Raphael's hand, and he wasn't about to let go. Valon on the other hand, was standing idly on the sidelines.

Yugi nodded. "Don't worry Trista we'll get you back, I promise."

"I believe in you…"

"Aww, what a touching reunion!"

Yugi turned around to see a woman in a black dress, with long, flowing pink hair. The same girl he had seen after the dream.

She snapped her fingers and Michelle and Trista's bodies disappeared.

"It can't be…" he whispered. "…Rini?"

"Wicked Lady!" She yelled. "My name is not Rini! It's Wicked Lady!"

Yugi could now tell she was right, Rini wasn't in those eyes at all.

"We want our friends back!" Téa yelled.

"Don't worry," Mistress 9 said, "after we awaken the Phoenix they will be of no use to us anymore."

"Hotaru?" Valon asked.

"HOTARU!??!" the others yelled.

Valon grabbed Mistress 9 by the shoulders and started to shake her. "C'mon!" he said urgently, "I know you're still in their Hotaru!"

Mistress 9 felt her head snap back. _He's the boy!!! _She put her hands on his chest and shoved him as hard as she could.

"You!" she shouted. "You're the one! I'm going to destroy you right…!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

"Master Dove?" Wicked Lady asked. They couldn't see him, they only heard his voice.

"Mistress 9, Wicked Lady, return to me at once!"

"But…" Mistress 9 argued.

"NOW!!!"

"Show yourself you coward!" Raphael yelled up into the sky. He wanted to take revenge for Trista. "Duel me right now!"

But there was now answer. Dove was gone.

"Let's go Mistress 9," Wicked Lady said, "we'll deal with them later."

Mistress 9 sent one last glare at Valon, and then left.

Alister and Raphael helped Valon get up.

They all stared up at the Nest, the desire to go up there was so intense…but they knew that's not what Yugi wanted…not yet.

_Rini…_he thought, _I'll get you back. If it's the last thing I ever do…_

_----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Author's Note: Phew! Doing 6 duels in on chapter is hard work! Anyways...thanks for all of the reviews! I noticed that some of you have questions:

Magician of the light: Don't worry, now that all of the Sailor Scouts are gone, Yugi and his friends will definitely play a bigger part! :)

Starlight AT: Right. The command center. It'll all make itself clear at the end of the story! You'll love it!

FireGodess101: Yeah...about that. Technically Domino City is said to be in the "yugioh" world, so it never specified on where Domino City acutally is. It's kind of like in Pokemon, none of the places are real, so I'm just going to say that Domino City is somewhere in the U.S. Besides, usually when it takes place in Japan all of the signs and books are written in Japanese. They never showed that in the English anime.

LunarStar Princess Krystal: I'll be answering all of your questions here, yeah, I like Serena/Atem too, unfortunately I'm trying to make this as close to the two shows as I can, and since Atem is gone, I can't magically bring him back. But if Darien and Serena were never together, then Rini would never be in the story! And that would make Yugi soo sad! But it's all good, because you're going to see Atem/Serena in the next story! I know what you mean with the Seto/Mina thing, in the first part of the Sailor Moon series, Mina was awesome! But then she turned into a complete valleygirl at the end and that made me hate her! But if you read the Sailor V manga, she's really cool! That's how I picture her when I write this story and I imagine her with her first voice because I love it so much better than at the end of the series! If you want to know how she sounds, watch the episode Kindergarten Chaos on youtube. And like I said before, I'm not going to magically bring back the Egyptian characters but it will be more Egypt based in my next story. Ugh, how did that happen! Okay I fixed Chapter 3 I am soo sorry about that! And for anyone else who read it!

By the way, I've drawn the Aviators, I know it's kind of hard to picture them when they're not real, when I began to write this I picture them as the Amazon Quartet (that's where I got the idea from) but now since I've actually got a picture of them, I figured I should show all the readers too!

Also, I've posted all of the full versions of the duels, because I know how short they are in the story.

All of them are posted as chapters, like this:

Ch. 1 Phoenix Awakening Duels (just a little intro)

Ch. 2 Mina vs. Hummingbird

Ch. 3 Lita vs. Parakeet

Ch. 4 Raye vs. Cardinal

Ch. 5 Amy vs. Blue Jay

Ch. 6 The Aviators

Ch 7. Michelle+Trista vs. Mistress 9+Wicked Lady

Ch. 8 Skies of Lost Spirits

Oh, did I forget to mention that I made the card? Yeah I found this great website and I made it on there! Here's the link for them:

www. quizilla .com/stories/8582662/phoenix-awakening-duels (Sorry for the spaces, for some reason, they won't show the URL. Just copy and paste it if you want to see.)

Oh yeah, for any of you artists out there, if any of you want to draw Master Dove, or even redraw the Aviators, e-mail to me and I'll be happy to take a look at them!

Also, if you like to make AMV's I would love to see your ideas for a yugioh/sailor moon theme song, I always imagine Michelle playing her violin at that beginning part! :D


	12. Ch 12: One Last Duel

Pegasus had told them that they should all get some, sleep, although nobody could do that. Not with all the bodies lying around all over the castle. The windows were shattered, tables overturned, and the feeling of dread was thick in the air.

Yugi was sitting on his bed, his head in his hands. _Should we go up there now? _He thought to himself. _Maybe…maybe I should do it on my own._

No. He can't forget what Téa had said to him. She was right, they were all a team, and they would do this together.

_Yugi…_

"Dark Magician Girl?"

She appeared before him, in her spiritual form and sat next to him on the bed.

"Why…why are you fading?" Yugi asked.

"It's happening to all of the Duel Monster spirits in our world." She answered sadly.

"But how…" he started, "how do I stop them?"

"You'll find a way Yugi," she lay a hand on his shoulder. "The fate of the whole world depends on you."

"Yeah but no pressure." He mumbled.

"I have to go Yugi…"

"Dark Magician Girl!?" Yugi said frantically, clawing the air, now that she had disappeared.

_One more friend I've lost…_he thought bitterly, _when will this nightmare end???_

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was so strange. Téa had woken up this morning after a good night's sleep. How did she do it? How could anyone sleep after all this?

She stood up and stretched her arms out high. _Wow…_she thought, staring out the window. _The sun…it's shining so brightly! Maybe…maybe it was all just a terrible nightmare!_

Téa quickly got dressed and ran out the door, now relieved. But she stopped dead cold once she had reached her friends. They were standing in the main hallway, bitter and motionless.

_Guess it wasn't a dream…_

"Good morning everyone!" she said cheerfully.

"What's so good about it?" Joey replied bitterly.

"Joey stop." Yugi said.

"So what do we do now?" Duke asked. "What's the plan Yugi?"

"First," Yugi started, "we take the Aviators out. Then, we'll get to Mistress 9 and W-wicked Lady. And finally," he finished. "I'll face Dove."

Joey nodded. "Duke, Kaiba and I will duel the Aviators."

"But wait!" Mokuba interrupted. Seto Kaiba was at his side.

"What is it Mokuba?" Yugi asked.

"There are four of them, and with Tristan gone who will…?"

The others sighed, they hadn't thought about that.

Téa stepped forward. "I'll duel."

"What!?" everyone shouted.

"Téa," Duke started, "you've never even dueled before!"

"I have so!" she protested. "Remember? I won against one of the big five! And do you know how many times I've watched all of you duel?! I can do it!"

"Okay…" Yugi said slowly, "but you don't have a deck!"

_So this is what she was talking about…_Kaiba thought.

"Here." He said briskly, handing Téa Mina's deck.

"What's this?" she asked.

"It's a deck dummy." He answered. "Mina gave it to me before she…" he couldn't finish.

Téa curled her hand around Mina's deck. It was warm, as if she had held it only moments ago.

"I'll duel Mistress 9."

Everyone turned to see Raphael, Valon, and Alister standing in the doorway.

_He still thinks Hotaru is inside…_Yugi thought sadly.

Raphael could see the look in Yugi's eyes. "I don't think that's a good idea Valon."

"And why not?"

"How about letting me and Raphael duel those two?" Alister suggested.

Valon took a look at both of them and backed down. He knew he was outnumbered.

"If you three are done," Kaiba interrupted, "then I'd like to get this duel over with." He walked past Raphael and the others and never looked back.

"I never liked that guy," Raphael mumbled.

"Good luck you guys…" Pegasus said as they all walked away.

When they were all outside, Téa's face fell. _I know I told them I could duel…_she started, _but am I good enough to defeat the enemy. Oh, I hope so…_

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Pegasus took one last look and then closes the door. When he turned back to the room he groaned and closes his eyes. Seeing all of these bodies was just killing him.

He went up to his room and locked the door. Then he took out a key and opened the lock to one of his drawers. Pegasus held a deck in his hands. Only it wasn't his deck. This…this deck was to be the prize for the winner of the Duelist Kingdom tournament. But that didn't matter anymore.

_Is Yugi's deck good enough to defeat that of this Dove? If not…he could certainly use this deck…_

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"Hey look!" Cardinal laughed, watching from the Aviators' Nest, "I think they actually want us to capture their spirits!"

The others Aviators laughed with her.

Normally this wouldn't have affected Dove, those girls laughed as much as teenage girls in high school. But this was different. Yugi and his friends were out in the open?

"Hmm…" he mumbled.

"Should we go check it out boss?" Parakeet asked.

_This could be a trap…_ "Go ahead." He answered.

"All right!" Blue Jay squealed.

"Let's go girls!" Hummingbird said.

They flew out of the Nest and down to where their victims were waiting.

"With all due respect Master Dove," Black Crow commented, "it might not have been the smartest move to let them take on top rated duelists. What if they were to lose?"

Dove just shrugged. "A spirit's a spirit my good man."

At that they both started to laugh wickedly, at the misfortune of their own team members.

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"Look! Up there!" Téa yelled, pointing at the Aviators.

"Mokuba, get behind me!" Seto yelled. Mokuba did as he was told, he still remembered the last encounter he had with them.

"All right ya creeps!" Joey shouted. "No one messes with my friends and gets away with it! Now you'll have to deal with Joey Wheeler!"

"Oh this'll be fun." Hummingbird snickered.

The eight duelists lined up, ready to duel, Mokuba, Yugi, and Valon were all watching from the sides. Alister and Raphael went looking for Mistress 9 and Wicked Lady.

"LET'S DUEL!!!" they all shouted.

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"Where do you think they are?" Alister asked Raphael as they were walking side by side through the forest.

"Where else?" Raphael pointed to the Nest. "Up there."

"Should we go up there?"

"Not yet. Remember what Yugi said. Let them come to us."

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"What are they planning?" Dove smiled deviously, observing Raphael and Alister. "Wicked Lady! Mistress 9!"

"Yes Master?"

"I think you two are being expected. It would be rude to keep those two waiting, hmm?"

"O-of course sir." Wicked Lady stuttered.

"We'll be brining back their spirits shortly," Mistress 9 assured him as they headed out.

When they had left, Master Dove mumbled, "I sincerely doubt that."

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"Look, here they come!" Raphael whispered.

Mistress 9 looked around, annoyed. "Where's your friend?" she asked, referring to Valon.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Alister started.

"But you'll be dueling us." Raphael finished.

Mistress 9 scowled. "Fine. Let's just make this quick. After we get rid of you two I'll be going after that biker fool."

"That's only if you can get past us." Alister snickered.

"That's it!" Wicked Lady roared, activating her duel disk. "Prepare to have your spirits sacrificed for the awakening of the Legendary Phoenix!"

"Why does this seem all too familiar?" Alister chuckled.

"Beats me." Raphael replied. "Now let's duel!"

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"I summon Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" Kaiba shouted, summoning his almighty dragon.

_Ugh…this isn't good. _Hummingbird thought.

_Wow…_Téa thought. _Mina's cards are soo cute! _"I sacrifice Happy Love and Shining Friendship to summon the Splendid Venus!"

"Oh no!" Parakeet groaned.

"Way to go Téa!" Yugi shouted, although Yugi couldn't see her, he could still hear what was going on.

"Thanks Yugi!!!"

"Yeah baby!" Joey said, "Red Eyes Black Dragon, come on out!"

"Uh-oh…" Blue Jay cowered.

"I summon my Battle Ox in Attack Mode!" Duke Devlin said.

"This isn't exactly how I imagined this duel…" Cardinal grumbled.

Things weren't looking to good for the Aviators, they each had no monsters on the field, no Spell or Trap cards face down, and their Life Points were all less than the monsters that their opponents summoned.

And the worst part was, they all had already played their Skies of Lost Spirits Spell card, the thought of them losing had never even crossed their minds.

"Now my dragon…!" Kaiba started, "Finish her off! White Lightning Blast!!!"

"Splendid Venus attack her with your Ray of Light!"

"Go Red Eyes! End this duel now!"

"Battle Ox send her Life Points to zero!!"

"NOO!!!" the Aviators yelled.

"What happens now sis?!" Blue Jay cried.

"I…I don't know…" Cardinal stuttered.

The effect of their Spell Card was starting to activate. The sky darkened, the wind blew even fiercer then before. It surrounded them until they were screaming in pain.

"NO I DON"T WANT TO GO!!!" Hummingbird screamed, tears running down her cheek.

Parakeet was in complete shock. She just stood there, silent.

Yugi and the others watched in horror. Even Kaiba could not deny the 'hocus pocus mind tricks' that were happening now.

The Aviators felt their bodies getting smaller, their wings too.

"Wh-what's happening?" Blue Jay asked.

"Yugi," Téa whispered, finding her voice, "why aren't their spirits showing up?"  
"I don't know Téa," Yugi answered, shaking his head.

"They're…turning into birds…" Mokuba whispered.

It was true. Their names weren't just there for show. Each of the Aviators had turned into the bird they were name after.

_What's going on? _Hummingbird thought to herself, since she couldn't say it out loud.

The birds fluttered about, it was as if their true selves have finally been set free.

_Thank you…_Cardinal wanted to say. _Thank you for setting us free from Dove's curse._

Yugi nodded, as if he knew exactly what she was saying.

The four birds flew up into the sky, circling the sun, and then headed home.

"That…" Joey began, "could not have gotten weirder."

"I'm just glad that no one was hurt." Téa sighed with relief.

Yugi nodded in agreement. "Me too Téa."

"Ugh, this is getting too mushy for me. I'm out of here." And he walked off, his little brother trailing behind.

"We should check how Alister and Raphael are doing guys," Valon interrupted.

The others nodded, following him.

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"They lost sir…but their spirits weren't taken." Black Crow stated.

"I can see that you imbecile!" Dove shouted. "They…they were turned into birds! How could this have happened!?"

"Well…they were named after birds…"

"QUIET!!!" he roared. "GO! Go and take that Yugi pest out! Without him they can't foil my plan!"

Crow bowed to his master. "Yes sir." And he was off.

Dove turned back to the birds in the sky. "Oh well," he mumbled. "Those four were useless to me anyway."

He walked into the Phoenix Shrine, where the nine of the most important bodies laid.

Among them were Serena, she lay in the middle of the group, her flowing blonde hair whisking about her.

Dove knelt down and kneaded his fingers through her hair. "Once the Phoenix awakens," he murmured, "I shall bring you back, and you will become my queen…"

He stood up and left, and, if you look closely, you can see a tear stream down one of Serena's cheeks.

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"Look they're all right!" Yugi shouted, running toward Alister and Raphael.

"You thought we would lose?" Raphael asked smugly.

"Ick, those are their spirits?" Téa looked with disgust. Both were the colors of murky water, black, mixed with blue, to create an unappealing mist.

The group looked up in awe as they saw both the spirits and the bodies being hauled up through the air and being taken back to the Nest.

"This is good." Yugi stated. "Now all we have to do is take out Master Dove.

"And get our friends back!" Joey added.

"So what are we waiting for then?" Valon asked. "Let's go!"

They began to climb the mountain, using all their strength, when they had began to reach the top they saw most of the Nest.

"I'm coming after you Dove!" Joey shouted, running toward the Nest at lightning speed.

"Joey wait!" Yugi shouted.

As Joey approached the cave, a whole flock of birds came after him.

"NYAAAHHH!!!" he yelled, running away.

"What a buffoon." Kaiba muttered.

Fortunately though, the birds stopped immediately, missing Joey by just inches.

"Huh? Why'd they stop?" Mokuba asked.

Yugi slowly walked up to the birds and placed his hand out in front of him.

"Are you crazy!?" Duke shouted.

"It's okay guys, look." The only thing that was between the birds and Yugi was an invisible barrier surrounding the Nest.

"Great. How do we get past this?" Raphael asked.

Yugi activated his duel disk.

"Yugi?" Téa started.

"I summon the Dark Magician!" he shouted.

"Huh?" the others said.

"Everyone!" He shouted. "Summon your best monsters! After I break this barrier the birds will try to attack us!"

Everyone (except Mokuba) summoned their monsters and stood ready for battle.

"Dark Magician…!" Yugi began, "Dark Magic Attack!"

The Spellcaster was strong enough to break the force field and a whole swarm of birds flew out.

"Aaahh!!" Téa yelled, covering her head.

They fought their way through the birds and made it toward the entrance of the Nest. Unfortunately though, someone was blocking it.

"It's Darien!" Yugi shouted, shocked.

"That's Black Crow!" he barked back, furious. "If you want to get to Master Dove, then you'll have to get past me!"

"I'll take you on!" Joey volunteered.

"Not you!" Crow snorted. He pointed to Yugi. "Him. I want the infamous King of Games to duel me."

"All right Crow," Yugi agreed, "I'll duel you. But you have to promise that if I win, we go straight to Dove!"

"IF you win. Which you won't."

"Be careful Yugi." Téa whispered.

Yugi nodded. "All right Crow!" He shouted, "I summon Queen's Knight in Defense Mode and place one card face down and end my turn!"

"That all you got?" Black Crow snorted. "Fine. Then I'll summon Doom Caliber Knight in Attack Mode! Next, I'll place one card face down and activate Different Dimension Capsule! I remove any card from my deck from play and get it back in two turns! "

_Oh no! _Téa thought nervously, _Is that the card I think it is??? _"YUGI!" she shouted, "I think I know what card he chose!!!"

Yugi turned to his friend. _I'll have to remember that…_

_You have know idea of what I'm about to do…_Crow thought deviously. "It's still my turn! Doom Caliber destroy his Queen's Knight…!"

"Not so fast!" Yugi interrupted. "I activate my face down card, Spellbinding Circle! Now your monster can't attack nor can you sacrifice it!"

"Grr…I end my turn."

"It's my move! I summon King's Knight in Attack Mode and…" as Yugi was about to activate its effect to summon his infamous Jack's Knight, Black Crow had cut in.

"I don't think so! Now my Doom Caliber Knight's effect activates!"

"What's it do?" Joey asked.

Black Crow ignored him and turned to Yugi. "By sacrificing it I get to destroys your monster! And don't forget, that also destroys the Spellbinding Circle!"

"No!" Yugi yelled.

"Oh no," Téa said worriedly, "This isn't looking good for Yugi…"

"That kid better not screw this up!" Kaiba said menacingly.

"Don't worry Seto!" Mokuba offered encouragingly, "Yugi never loses!"

"That's right!" Joey agreed, then shouted, "You can do this Yugi!"

"But not yet," Crow interrupted, "because I activate my Return from the Dark Dimension! This allows me to Special Summon Dark Horus!" Just then the holographic simulators displayed a huge black dragon, fire burned beneath it, and its beady black eyes were menacing.

"Whoa," Valon breathed, "that thing's got 3000 Attack Points!"

"Yugi's gonna have a hard time taking that down." Raphael muttered.

"C'mon Yug!" Joey yelled, "Pluck the feathers off this freak!"

"Joey!" Téa scolded.

"Let the guy have some concentration!" Duke told all of them, "Quit interrupting!"

"DUKE!" everybody else yelled.

Yugi couldn't help but smile, at the beginning of this duel he was so nervous and uptight, but now, with the help of his friends, he was much more relaxed.

"I activate Pot of Greed!" Yugi drew his two cards and smiled. "And because I drew this card outside of my Draw Phase, I can Special Summon Watapon!" (In Defense Mode.) "I'll then place one card face down and end my turn!"

_This kid just won't give up! _Black Crow thought stubbornly. _Then I guess I'll just have to step my game up! _"All right! I activate Veil of Darkness…!"

"What does that do?" Yugi asked.

"Oh, you'll find out soon enough. Next I'll attack Watapon with Doom Grepher!"

Yugi watched as his pink fuzz ball got destroyed.

"At least it was in Defense Mode," Téa commented, "otherwise he would lose Life Points!"

"Yeah," Joey agreed, "but if he wants to win then Yugi's gonna have to start fightin' back!"

"Now Dark Horus attack his Queen's Knight…!"

"Hold it!" Yugi shouted, activating his facedown card, "I activate The Regulation of Tribe! By declaring one type, that type can't attack as long as this card remains face-up on the field!"

"No!" Crow gasped.

"And I choose…dragon! Now your Dark Horus can't attack!"

"Then I'll end my turn…" he grumbled.

Now it was Yugi's turn. He drew a card. _If I want to keep Regulation of Tribe on the field then I'm going to have to sacrifice a monster or else it gets destroyed! But I can't risk losing one of my monsters…I'll just have to take a chance! _"I choose not to sacrifice a monster so now my Trap Card gets sent to the Graveyard."

"Whaaat?!?!" Joey yelled. "What's Yugi thinkin'?"

"Now Dark Horus can attack"! Mokuba cried.

_Hmm…_Kaiba thought, _why would Yugi destroy his card instead of just sacrificing a monster? He must have a plan…_

"I summon Silent Magician LV. 4 in ATK mode and activate the Spell Card, Level Up!"

I think you can assume what it does Crow! This allows me to sacrifice my Silent Magician LV. 4 in order to Special Summon Silent Magician LV. 8!"

"Great!" Duke commented, "Now his magician is stronger than Black Crow's Dark Horus!"

"And now," Yugi continued, "I activate my Magical Dimension, I'm only allowed to activate this if I have at least one Spellcaster on my side of the field. Now I can sacrifice my Queen's Knight to Special Summon a Spellcaster from my hand! And I choose, Dark Magician Girl!"  
"What!?" she gasped. "What's going on?!" The beautiful magician turned around and saw Yugi. "Oh thank you Yugi! It seems that when I was summoned my spirit was somehow revived!"

Yugi nodded. "I was hoping that would happen. Now Silent Magician! Attack his Black Horus! With Silent Magician's Blast!" Black Crow lost 500 Life Points. "Dark Magician Girl attack his Dark Grepher!"

"Aaarrggghhh!" Black Crow had 3200 Life Points left. "Now the effect of Veil of Darkness kicks in! If I draw a Dark Monster during my Draw Phase, by showing it to my opponent and sending it to the Graveyard I'm allowed to draw another card! So now I'll summon Goblin Black Ops in Attack Mode and equip it with Axe of despair, increasing its Attack Points by 1000!"

"Now it has 2300." Raphael said.

"So what?" Téa questioned. "It's still not stronger than Yugi's Silent Magician."

"You've got a naive friend," Black Crow snorted, "I guess she doesn't know that my Goblin can attack you directly! So go! Attack Yugi's Life Points directly!"

"Oh no!" Téa gasped.

"Kid's only got 1700 Life Points left." Valon said sadly.

"Unfortunately, my Goblin switches to Defense Mode. So I'll just play these two cards face-down and end my turn."

_What an excellent move, _Kaiba mused, _he took a chunk at Yugi's Life Points and protects his own. Let's see if Yugi is the King of Games his title claims to be._

_I have no cards in my hand. So I'll have to rely on the heart of the cards…_Yugi grinned.

"What are you smiling about?" Crow snapped.

"I activate the Spell Card, Sage's Stone!"

Kaiba immediately thought of Mina then.

"This allows me to Special Summon one Dark Magician from my Deck!"

"All right Yugi! Way to go!" Téa and Joey shouted.

"I don't think so! Because I activate Black Horn of Heaven, which destroys your Dark Magician!"

"But since Dark Magician is in the Graveyard…" Raphael began.

"Then that means his Dark Magician Girl gets 300 ATK points!" Valon finished.

"Grr…I activate my second face-down card, Call of the Haunted! Bringing back my Dark Horus!" _It may still get destroyed…_he thought, _but it'll save my Life Points._

"Silent Magician!" Yugi shouted, motioning to his magician, "destroy his Dark Horus!" Black Crow lost 500 Life Points. "Dark Magician Girl, destroy his Goblin Black Ops!"

Black Crow had 2900 Life Points left. By now he was starting to lose a bit of his confidence. With no cards in his hand, he wasn't feeling too good. _All right, _he thought, _better make this move count. _He drew his card. "I activate the effect of my Veil of Darkness sending Infinity Dark to the Grave to draw another card! Next I activate, Pot of Greed, allowing me to draw two cards!"

And since I have five Dark monsters in my Graveyard, I can Special Summon, The Dark Creator in Defense Mode. I'll also summon Armageddon Knight in Defense Mode, and use its effect, taking one Dark Monster from my Deck and adding it to my Graveyard! Do you want to know what card it was Yugi?"

Yugi didn't like his smug tone.

"It was my Darknight Parshath, which means I get to Special Summon it to the field! It also gains 100 Attack Points for every Dark Monster in my Graveyard, meaning it has 2300! Darknight Parshath, destroy his Dark Magician Girl!"

"Wait?!" Téa cried out, "Doesn't that mean his monster gets destroyed too?"

"That's right." Crow answered, "but when it destroys a monster I'm allowed to draw a card by removing a Dark Monster from play! Now I'll equip the Dark Creator with Mist Body!"

"That means his monster can't be destroyed by battle!" Joey shouted.

"And since it's in Defense Mode," Duke added, "he won't lose any Life Points."

_I only have one shot…_Yugi thought, staring at his Deck. _Heart of the cards…guide me. _He looked at his card. _This just might work!_

Yugi held his card high. "I activate the Spell Card, Card of Sanctity! Now both of us draw until we have…"

"Yes, yes, six cards just move it already!" Crow shouted. He grinned evilly when he saw his hand. Because one of the cards was Skies of Lost Spirits. _He's as good as gone._

Yugi noticed the look on Crow's face.

_Oh no! _Téa thought. _Did he draw the card!?_

"I activate Polymerization, fusing Gazelle, the King of Mythical Beasts, and Berfomet to summon, Chimera, the Flying Mythical Beast!"

"So what?" Crow barked, "You've got one measly monster! You still can't destroy The Dark Creator!"

_He's right…_Yugi thought, _as long as Mist Body is on the field, I can't do much of anything…huh!? _Yugi had missed one of the cards that he held in his hand, it was in the deep corner. Right then, a flood of memories washed through him…

_Everyone was on the plane, excited to go to Duelist Kingdom, but nervous at the same time. After a while, Lita had gotten over her fear and started to relax. Before long, everyone had fallen asleep. Everyone…except Rini and Yugi._

_"Yugi," Rini started. She had an uneasy look on her face._

_Yugi was sorting through his Deck when he looked up. "Yeah Rini?"_

_"I…" she held out a card to him. It was the Marshmellon that he gave to her, after he taught her how to duel._

_Yugi just stared at it. "What are you doing?"  
"I'm giving you your card back!"_

_"But…why?"_

_Rini shook her head. "Joey told me you used this monster during one of your toughest duels. The pharaoh wasn't with you then. So I'm guessing it's pretty important."_

_How does she know about the pharaoh? Yugi thought._

_"Besides…" she continued, "I think…you'll need it again."_

_"What do you mean Rini?"_

_"I know that's something bad is gonna happen when we get there. So in case anything does…well…just take it okay?"_

_Yugi took the card, uncertain. "Are you sure Rini?"_

_Rini nodded vigorously. "I'm positive."_

_He sighed and smiled. "Thanks Rini."_

_But Rini had already fallen asleep, snoring lightly. Yugi smiled and lifted her covers closer to her chin, and kissed her forehead. Then he stared at the card…until they had reached Duelist Kingdom…_

_Now it's time. _Yugi thought, a determined look on his face. "I summon Marshmellon in Attack mode!"

Black Crow blinked and then started to laugh uncontrollably. "What are you going to do with that?! Kill me with cuteness!?"

"What is he doing!?!?" Kaiba yelled angrily.

_It may look weak…but it's a powerful card._ Téa remembered Yugi's words to Rini clearly. _He knows what he's doing…_she thought. "C'mon Yugi! Pluck the feathers off this bird!"

"I activate the Spell Card, Mystic Box!"

Crow immediately stopped laughing. "What does that do?!"

"This allows me to destroy one monster on your side of the field. And I choose…The Dark Creator!"

"NO!"

"But I'm not done there, due to my Spell Card's effect, I have to give you one of my monsters! Now Marshmellon is yours!"

"That thing only has 300 ATK Points!!!" he cried.

"And it can't be destroyed by battle! Now Chimera! Attack Marshmellon!"

Everyone watched as Chimera charged at the pink marshmallow, they saw the attack, they saw Crow lose Life Points, but it was still there.

"Silent Magician LV. 8! FINISH HIM OFF!!!"

"NOOO!!!!!!!" _I didn't even get to activate my Spell Card! Wait! Does that mean…that I don't lose my spirit?  
_But the impact of Yugi's last attack cause him to obliterate, and disappear into the sky.

Yugi immediately fell to his knees, exhausted from the rigorous duel. All of his friends ran to him.

"Yugi!!!" Téa yelled, hugging him, "you did great!"

"Yeah, way to go Yug!" Joey agreed.

"You did okay kid." Valon said.

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Thanks guys," he said tiredly.

"If you all are done with your little love fest," Kaiba interrupted, pointing to the Nest, "then we might want to get moving. We've still got one more bird to take down."

Yugi nodded. "Right. Let's go." _This is it. _He thought to himself. _If I win this duel I'll save mankind. The fate of the world rests in my hands._


	13. Ch 13: Sunrise

_A/N: Ok, this is the last chapter! I was going to go for an even dozen...but, then it would have been about 28 pages long, so I split it into two. I saw the review from Sunrise Phoenix, wondering where Atem was. Remember, the main reason I write this is so you know how Yugi fends for himself, without the Pharoah, since it's AFTER he leaves. It's all about watching Yugi grow up...sort of. Anyway...I hope you like it!_

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Dove frowned as he saw his enemies approach. He was watching from a close distance and had just gotten a glimpse of the last duel. _Oh must I do everything myself! _He groaned inside his head.

He walked into the Phoenix Shrine and took a look at the bodies around him. They were the nine princesses, with the exception of one being in Japan. But it didn't matter. Soon Dove would conquer the whole world alongside the Legendary Phoenix.

Through the shrine there were feathers and rose petals strewn across the floor, and all of those led up to the wall where the spirits were going to be sacrificed. Dove pulled out his Deck from one of the slots and prepared to await Yugi Muto and his friends.

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Luna, Artemis and Diana had stayed behind with Pegasus when Yugi and the others had sought out after Dove. They weren't too happy.

"It's been a while," Artemis commented, tapping his paw against the linoleum floor impatiently, "You think we should go after them?"

"No," Luna said immediately, "You have to trust Yugi. Just like Rini and the others did. I'm sure they can do this."

"I hope they're okay…" Diana sighed.

Pegasus was just staring out the window. He could sense it. Yugi was about to duel Dove right now. But why did it take so long.

Pegasus also knew that he had to get past Black Crow first. And that Yugi had used his regular deck.

_If Yugi had so much trouble against Black Crow…_he mused, _then will he be able to fight against Dove?_ He knew what he had to do. Maximillian quickly stood up and ran up to his painting gallery, where his paintings of Cecelia lay.

"Pegasus!" Luna shouted. "Where are you going?!" The three cats ran after him.

He unlocked one of the drawers and pulled out the felt box that held the prize Deck for the Duelist Kingdom Tournament.

Luna, Artemis, and Diana knew what Pegasus was thinking when they saw the Deck.

Pegasus turned toward them. "Let's go give Yugi boy a hand." And they all took off.

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"Yugi you sure you're feelin' okay?" Joey asked. He and Duke were holding Yugi up as they headed toward the Nest.

"Maybe you should sit this one out," Téa suggested, "Let Kaiba or Raphael duel for you."

"Or me!" Joey shouted.

But Yugi just shook his head. "No." He said firmly. "I have to do this. For Rini. For everybody."

No one was prepared to argue with him at that point.

When they had just arrived at the entrance to the Nest, they saw that Dove was already there, waiting for them, a smug look on his face.

Joey immediately bolted and tried to punch him in the face, but Dove swiftly dodged it and sent Joey sprawling across the floor.

"Ah, Yugi Muto," he said amusingly, "I've been expecting you. It seems my lackeys couldn't take care of you." He chuckled. "You can never find good work nowadays now can you?"

"All right Dove," Yugi seethed, "Enough games. Hand back all of their spirits you've captured!"

Dove threw his head back and let out and grotesque laugh that sent shivers down everyone's spine. "Is that how you're going to convince me? I'm sorry Yugi but I'm not really threatened by a little boy. But I will duel you."

"Yugi you can't!" Téa tried again. "You can't duel in this condition, you need to see a doctor!"

"No worries mate," Valon said, "I'll duel ya."

Dove shook his head, pointing to Yugi. "No. It has to be the boy. I want to see how powerful his spirit is now that the Pharaoh is gone."

As the others were about to protest Yugi raised his hand. "Guys, it's okay. I can do this." He painfully took a few steps toward Dove and said, "If I win, you have to agree to sent all the spirits that you've captured free."

Dove nodded to this. "Fair enough. Now let's duel deeper inside the Nest, I like to make my guests feel at home."

"You're sick." Alister spat out.

But Dove only grinned. "I'll take that as a compliment. Come. Let us not keep the Legendary Phoenix waiting. For he grows impatient as he desires to feast on more spirits…"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yugi, Dove, and the others were now near the Phoenix Shrine, in a deeper part of the Nest, where they'll have enough room to duel.

"Shall we begin?" Dove asked.

"Wait! WAIT!!!"

Everyone turned and gasped, "Pegasus!?"  
"Yugi…" he panted. "Here. Take…this." He held out the deck to Yugi.

Yugi took it, uncertain. "What…is this?"

"You'll need it. To beat…him."

As Yugi was about to look at the deck, Dove shouted, "I haven't got all day! Let's start the duel NOW!"

"Good luck Yugi." Luna said, bowing her head.

"Please save Small Lady!" Diana pleaded.

"We know you'll win." Artemis told him.

Yugi nodded to each of them. "Thanks guys." He turned to Dove. "All right. I'm ready."

"Ah but before we begin…" Dove started, "I'd like to show you something…"

Dove raised his hand and with a few flickers of it, they saw an image appearing on the far side of the wall.

"What the…?" Duke started.

As the image started to get clearer they gasped. It was a live view of the Phoenix Shrine, and all of the lifeless bodies that lay in it.

Nine of the scouts were there, Serena, Mina, Amy, Lita, Raye, Hotaru, Trista, Michelle and Rini…they were all in beautiful off-white dresses, and there was a stray of petals and white feathers strewn across their bodies. It was breathtaking both in ways of shock…and in beauty.

"Serena!" Luna cried.

Téa shook her head and began to say no over and over again.

Kaiba was speechless. He stared at Mina as though she were the only one there. Her blonde hair flew about her and across her face and one of the sleeves of her dress almost came off. Her hand was over that of Raye's and she looked so peaceful.

Mokuba was the exact opposite of Kaiba though. He ran to the wall and began pounding on it, shouting Mina's name, although he knew it would make no difference.

"You're a monster." Yugi said, trying very hard to hold back all his anger.

Joey on the other hand, wasn't so good at that.

"I'm gonna pummel ya, ya freak!" Joey again attempted to sock Dove in the face, only this time Dove didn't dodge. He didn't have to. For when Joey was in arm's length reach of him, he bounced back and hit the ground hard.

"Joey!" Yugi yelled. "What did you do!?"

"I've put a barrier around just the two of us so that no one can interfere with our match."

"Fine. Then let's duel." Yugi said through his teeth.

Everyone gathered along the side to watch the duel that would save mankind…or destroy it.

They all turned away from the far wall so as not to see their friends. It was just unbearable.

"Allow me," Dove said, starting. "I…"

Yugi gasped as he looked at his hand. He looked at Pegasus. _So…this was the prize deck?_

"Ahem." Dove cleared his throat. "As I was saying. I summon Firebird in Attack Mode (1000) and place two cards face-down and end my turn."

Yugi drew his card and began to observe his cards again. _If summoning Dark Magician Girl resurrected her spirit…I wonder…_

"I summon Sailor Mercury in Attack Position (1500)!"

Everybody gasped as they saw the intelligent scout emerged.

At first it began as most of the holographic images do, all blurry and hard to see, but then it began to get clearer.

"Mmm…" Sailor Mercury opened her eyes to see a huge flaming bird in front of her.

"Oh my goodness!" she gasped, jumping back.

"AMY!!!" Joey shouted, ecstatic.

"Joey?" Amy said, squinting.

"How could this have happened!?" Dove barked, turning toward the wall where the bodies of the scouts still lay.

"Is that…us?" Mercury asked, looking at herself and her friends, asleep. "If I'm there…then how am I here?"

"Remember Amy," Yugi explained, "Your spirit was captured, but it was in Sailor Mercury all along. That's how you were able to come back."

She turned to Pegasus. "Wait a minute…you mean when you said you were inspired in Japan…you mean that you were inspired by…the Sailor Scouts?"

Pegasus nodded, a smile on his face. "That's right. Although I never thought this deck would be needed to save the world."

"That's our lives in a nutshell." Téa muttered.

"If Amy was in the deck," Mokuba started. "Then…that must mean Mina and the others are there too!"

Pegasus nodded. "That's right."

"Can we get on with this duel!?" Dove shouted. "There have been too many delays!"

"Are you ready to fight Amy?" Yugi asked.

Amy nodded.

"All right," Yugi shouted. "Sailor Mercury! Attack his Firebird!"

"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody…!"

"Hold on!" Dove shouted. "I activate my face-down card, Phoenix Wing Windblast! This sends Sailor Mercury to the top of your Deck!"

"Oh no!" Mercury gasped. She felt herself slowly disappearing, back to the top of Yugi's Deck.

"Amy…no!" Joey shouted.

But she was gone.

"I'll place two cards face-down and end my turn." Yugi finished. He wasn't too worried. He knew that he would draw Amy again. But he was worried about what would happen if she got sent to the Graveyard…

"Now I'll sacrifice my Firebird to summon Roc From the Valley of Haze (2400) and I'll attack your Life Points directly…!"

"Not so fast! I activate my Trap Card Ultimate Gathering!"

"What does that do?"

"This allows me to Special Summon one "Sailor" monster from my Deck! And I choose…" he paused as he leafed through the deck, "Sailor Pluto (2600)!"

Trista felt herself appear in a dueling area, she had the same feeling as Amy…confusion.

"What's going on?" she asked quietly.

"Trista." Raphael smiled.

"Trista I'm going to have to ask you to fight so we can win this duel and save all of mankind." Yugi said.

She nodded, no questions asked. "As a Sailor Scout I'll do all that I can to protect this world from evil."

"All right." Yugi said, "It's my move!" He glanced over at Valon, who didn't look too happy at seeing Joey and Raphael being so happy.

"I summon…Sailor Saturn in Attack Mode (1800)!"

"Hmm? Trista? Yugi? What's happening?"

"HOTARU!!!" Valon cried happily, running toward her.

"Valon! Stop!" Alister screamed. Valon turned around, irritated. "The barrier, remember?"

"Oh yeah…"

"Valon." Hotaru smiled, her hand pressed against the force field. Valon did the same, and although they weren't exactly touching, the moment felt just the same.

"This is going to be a loooong duel." Dove groaned.

"Sailor Saturn you must pay attention." Pluto told her. "You must fight."

Saturn turned away from Valon and nodded to her friend. "Okay."

"Sailor Pluto!" Yugi yelled. "Attack his Rock From the Valley of Haze!"

"Pluto Deadly Scream!"  
"I activate Icarus Attack, by sacrificing a Winged-Beast monster, I get to destroy two cards on the field…"

"I counter by activating Scouts' Honor, when one of your cards targets my monsters, it negates the effect and destroys it!"

"Aargh!" Dove yelled. "Curse you Yugi Muto!"

"Pluto." Yugi motioned to her.

"PLUTO DEADLY SCREAM!!!" She destroyed Dove's monster with her Garnet Rod.

"Now Sailor Saturn attack his Life Points directly!"

Saturn slashed Dove with her Silence Glaive.

Dove had 2000 Life Points left. It was his turn. "I activate back to Square One, sending you Sailor Pluto back to the top of your Deck!"

"Trista!" Raphael yelled.

She smiled at him. "I'll be okay." And then she was gone.

"Now I'll summon Blue-Winged Crown in Attack Mode (1600), next I'll activate Rising Air Current, so all Wind Monsters gain 500 Attack Points!"

"Then that makes it stronger than Sailor Saturn." Duke said.

"Oh no!" Téa gasped.

"Blue-Winged Crown attack his Sailor Saturn!"

Hotaru took a few steps back as she saw the big blue bird coming toward her.

"Yugi!" she gasped. "Yugi what do I do?!"  
Yugi was speechless. He knew that one of them was going to have to get destroyed sooner or later. He just never thought that it would be this soon.

"YUGI!" Valon shouted. "DO SOMETHING MATE!!!"

"He can't!" Téa told him.

"Hotaru…" he choked out, "I'm…"

"It's fine." She said. "I'll be oka- aaahhh!!!" she yelled as the bird's talons dug into her skin. And then she was gone.

Valon sunk down to the ground, weeping silently.

Yugi dropped to his knees. He couldn't take anymore. The claws, the flesh…it was all just too much. Yugi couldn't go on…

"Yugi!" Kaiba yelled. "Finish the duel!"  
He got up silently and drew his card. One of them was Mini Moon. _Rini!? _He thought. "I summon one monster face-down!"

_What's going on? _Rini wondered. She was crouched down in a very uncomfortable position and it was dark. She felt something very heavy on top over her.

"Mmm…" she grunted as she tried to lift it up. When she did, she caught of glimpse of what was outside.

_Yugi!?_

Yugi saw her and silently put a finger over his lips.

Rini didn't know what was going on but she made sure to follow Yugi's instructions and so she stayed quiet.

"I also activate the Spell Card, Sailor Tokens!" Four Chibi tokens came onto the field, they looked a lot like the Amazon Quartet. That ends my turn."

"I summon Faith Bird in Attack Mode (2000). Now Blue-Winged Crown, attack his face-down monster!"

His monster's beak started to peck at Mini Moon and she cried out, "Ouch! Hey! Quit it!"

"It's Rini!" Everyone shouted.

"Oh Small Lady!" Diana cried, her eyes full of tears of joy.

"Hi guys!" Rini said cheerfully. Then she looked at her outfit. "Why am I in my Scout form?"

"You're a duel monster in a duel." Pegasus explained.

"And Rini…I mean, Mini Moon, has a Flip Effect. "I'm allowed to take one "Sailor" monster and add it to my hand. And you know the only one I have is Sailor Saturn. So it returns to my hand!" He looked at Rini sadly. "I'm sorry Rini…but you have to the go to the Graveyard."

"What!? I'M DEAD!?!?"  
"Duel Rini, you're in a duel." Luna sighed.

"Oh…" Rini sighed with relief. "Well, it might not be so bad. See you guys later!"

"Faith Bird attack one of the Sailor Tokens. I end my turn." Dove finished.

"I activate Sailors' Blessing and end my turn."

Dove drew his card and froze. He felt something. _The last spirit…_he thought, _…has been utilized!_

"This the end for all of you!" he shouted, laughing. "For now I sacrifice my Blue-Winged Crown and Faith Bird to summon….Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys!!! Come my Phoenix! Arise!"

"This…" Duke said, "is not good."

They all watched in horror as the mighty bird rose from its slumber. It was golden and had large wings and let out a threatening roar that sent the ground shaking.

"And now I activate Skies of Lost Spirits!" Rising Air Current got destroyed and everyone looked outside the cave as they saw hurricane-like winds rustle about. The trees were as though they were about to split at any second, and the sky was a deep gray. "Now it's time to activate Skies of Lost Spirits effect!"

_It has an effect!? _Yugi thought worriedly.

"Wait, that thing has an effect?" Joey asked.

"By sending my Sacred Phoenix to the Grave I'm allowed to Special Summon Dark Nephthys!" This bird was the exact opposite of Sacred Nephthys, it looked evil, had course black wings, and looked hungry…

"But Seto it has the same Attack Points!" Mokuba protested. That was true. Both the Sacred Phoenix and Dark Nephthys had 2400 Attack Points.

"How observant of you." Dove said dryly, "But when I summon Dark Nephthys by this effect it can't be destroyed as a result of battle! Now Dark Nephthys, attack one of his Sailor Tokens!"

As the Sailor Token was destroyed Yugi gained 1000 Life Points.

"Wait," Dove sputtered, "why did you gain Life Points!?"

"That's Sailors' Blessing's effect!" Yugi shouted. "Whenever a monster on my side of the field is destroyed I gain 1000 Life Points!"

"Grr…I end my turn." _No matter, _he thought to himself, _soon he'll have no monsters left!_

_I have to protect my Life Points, Sailors' Blessing will keep me safe…for now. But if I run out of monsters it'll get destroyed! _"I summon Sailor Saturn in Defense Mode and place one card face-down and end my turn!"  
Hotaru felt herself reappear in a position where she was bent down like a knight before his king.

Valon sighed in relief at the sight of her being okay. Then it all became clear to him. "Wait, what are you doing!? She'll just get send to the Graveyard again!"

Yugi couldn't look at him. _That's the point…_

"Hello? I'm talking to…!"  
"Valon it's okay," Hotaru said, "Yugi, he knows what he's doing. You just have to believe in him."

"She's right man," Joey told him, placing a hand on Valon's shoulder. Valon shrugged it off but said nothing.

"It's my move! I summon Sacred Crane (1600) in Attack Mode! Sacred Crane attack one of his Sailor Tokens! Dark Nephthys attack Sailor Saturn!" (In total Yugi gained 2000 Life Points.)

Sailor Saturn felt herself fading away.

"Hotaru…" Yugi choked out, "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be," she said softly, "Now I can be with Rini. I'll see you later."

It was Yugi's turn and he only had one Sailor Token left, and if that got destroyed he wouldn't be able to gain Life Points anymore. "I summon Sailor Mercury in Defense Mode and end my turn!"

"I don't get it," Téa shook her head. "What's his plan?"

"He just keeps letting his monsters get destroyed," Raphael said.

"It's my move!" Dove shouted, "I summon Eagle Eye in Attack Mode and attack one of your Sailor Tokens! Sacred Crane attack Sailor Mercury!"

Sailor Mercury stood her ground as she saw the majestic bird coming at her. "Good luck Yugi." She told him. And then she was gone.

Yugi's Sailors' Blessing was destroyed because he hand no monsters on his side of the field. Which means he was open for a direct attack.

_I can use my facedown card…but not yet._

"Dark Nephthys attack his Life Points directly!"

"Aaarrrgghhh!!!" Yugi screamed as the dark bird pelted at him. He had 6300 Life Points left.

"I…activate…" Yugi grunted, "Graceful Charity." He drew his three cards, and discarded two (Sailor Pluto and Sailor Neptune). "I summon Sailor Gemini (1900) and attack your Eagle Eye and end my turn."

Dove lost 600 Life Points, meaning he was down to 1400. _Let's foil the young boy's plans. _"I activate Card Destruction! And since it's the only card in my hand, nothing happens! You on the other hand…must discard your three cards and draw three new ones!"

Yugi tried to hide his smile. _Perfect. _The three cards he discarded to the Grave was Sailor Uranus, Venus and Jupiter. Yugi drew his three new cards and grinned even more.

"Dark Nephthys attack Sailor Gemini! Sacred Crane attack his Life Points directly!"

"It's okay," Téa said, mostly to herself, "He still has 4200 Life Points."

"Now I activate Silver Crystal Calling!"

"What does that do?" Dove asked.

"By discarding one Sailor Moon from my hand to the Grave, I'm allowed to Special Summon Sailor Cosmos (2800)!" _There'd be no point in attacking Dark Nephthys, since it can't be destroyed by battle…so…_ "Sailor Cosmos attack Sacred Crane!"

The beautiful white scout took out her long scepter and raised it high in the air. "Silver Moon Blast!" and she sent Sacred Crane flying.

"NO!" Dove yelled, he had lost 1200 Life Points. And only had 200 left.

"Yay Yugi!" Téa yelled.

"I equip Dark Nephthys with Horn of the Unicorn, so now it's stronger than your Sailor Cosmos! Dark Nephthys destroy his Sailor Scout!"

"Argh!" Yugi lost 300 Life Points as Dove ended his turn.

"I summon Sailor Mars in Defense Mode and ends my turn."

The Scout of Fire looked around in confusion. "Whoa," she said, shaking her head, "strange dream…"

"Raye!" Duke shouted. "Raye it's not a dream, you're in a duel!"

"Duke?"

"He's right." Yugi said. "I'm going to need your help Raye."

Raye nodded. "Whatever you say Yugi."

"Enough dilly dally! It's my move! I summon Sonic Duck (1700) and attack your Sailor Mars with Dark Nephthys!"

"OUCH!" Sailor Mars yelped as the bird smoldered her.

"Now that she's out of the way Sonic Duck attack him directly!"

_Okay, _Yugi thought, _I have two cards in my hand. _One of them was Tuxedo Mask. _I don't have any monsters to sacrifice…_ "I'll just place one card face-down and end my turn."

"You're finished!" Dove shouted. "Dark Nephthys attack his Life Points directly…!"

"Not so fast! I activate Moon Destruction! By removing Mini Moon fro play I get to destroy one card on the field. And since Dark Nephthys can't be destroyed by battle…I'll destroy it with a Trap Card!"

"What!? NO!" Dove shouted, his evil Phoenix now gone. "Fine then!" he spat, "Sonic Duck! Destroy him!"

"I activate my face-down card Princess Summoning!"

"What does that do???" Dove seethed.

"This allows me to Special Summon all "Sailor" or "Mini Moon" monsters in my graveyard or that were removed from play onto my side of the field!"

"What? But that's impossible! You only have five slots for your monsters!"

"True, but if I have no Spell and Trap cards I'm allowed to take those slots too! Meaning I can summon ten monsters!"

"So that's why he sent his monsters to the Grave!" Valon laughed. "So he can summon them all at once!"

"That's the way to do it!" Joey shouted.

Pegasus smiled. He knew that Yugi would come through.

Everyone watched as all of the Sailor Scouts began to appear. The field looked like this:

Venus Mercury Moon Mars Jupiter Saturn Neptune Mini Moon Pluto Uranus

The Sailor Scouts opened their eyes and smiled.

"It's nice to see you again." Neptune told Uranus.

"You know," she replied, "I was in the middle of a race"

"Mina!" Mokuba yelled.

"Hey kiddo!" She smiled and waved to Kaiba.

"This…this isn't possible!" Dove sputtered. "You…and…the…???"

As Dove was going on everybody looked up to see the ten items float down toward the Sailor Scouts. Suddenly…they knew. The Scouts knew how to harness their powers. And they were ready.

Yugi nodded to them.

Sailor Moon held out the diamond in front of her. "Moon Tranquil Power!!!"

The Scouts followed her lead.

Sailor Venus held out the angel wings in front of her. "Venus Celestial Power!"

Sailor Mercury opened the book and yelled out, "Mercury Wisdom Power!"

Sailor Mars lit her candle. "Mars Inferno Power!"

Sailor Jupiter threw down her thunderbolt "Jupiter Vigor Power!"

Mini Moon held her princess staff high into the air and called out, "Moon Petite Power!"

Now it was time for the Outer Planet Scouts.

Sailor Saturn started to twirl the ribbon around her body. "Saturn Demolition Power!"

Sailor Neptune put on the turquoise necklace. "Neptune Aqua Power!"

Sailor Uranus held out the rock and called out, "Uranus Terrain Power!"

Sailor Pluto went last, her pocket watch opening up. "Pluto Era Power!"

Everybody watched in awe as they saw the Sailor Scouts transform into what would be known as their "Dominant" forms.

"Amazing…" Pegasus breathed. He never thought that this would happen.

"Sailor Scouts!" Sailor Moon yelled out, "Lend me your power! So we can defeat this enemy and save the world from destruction!"

All of the Scouts had given their power to Sailor Moon. A Silver Crystal Scepter was given to her and the Scouts put their hands over hers as she held the scepter out and yelled, "PLANETARY ANHILATION STRIKE!!!"

"NOOO!!!!!" Dove yelled, as his Life Points went down to 0.

The effect of Skies of Lost Spirits was now activating and the winds from outside blew into the cave and surrounded Dove, until there was nothing left of him.

Yugi fell down to his knees, exhausted and the barrier around his was no longer there.

"Yugi you did it! You won!" Téa cried, hugging her friend.

He looked up at the Sailor Scouts. "I couldn't…have done it…with out you. Thank you."

Sailor Moon turned to him. She shook her head. "No Yugi. Thank you. You defeated Dove and his Phoenix. And now…everyone who had lost his or her spirit will now be back. So I guess we'll see you later!"

Now the Sailor Scouts were disappearing, and al that was left were their spirits, white, pink, orange, blue, red, green, black, midnight blue, violet, aquamarine. The spirits flew through the caves and were going back to their rightful owners.

"Come on!" Joey yelled, getting a head start toward the castle. "Let's see if everybody's back!"

Everyone ran after him, eager to see their friends.

Only Yugi, Pegasus, and the three cats stayed behind.

Pegasus started by saying, "That was by far the best duel you've ever won Yugi boy."

"Not to mention your most difficult." Artemis added.

"But you managed to pull through." Luna smiled.

"Thanks you for saving everybody Yugi!" Diana purred, rubbing against Yugi's leg.

He patted her head. "You're welcome Diana. I-…"

Téa poked her head through the cave. "Yugi? You coming?"

"Right. Let's go."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Raye squinted as she shouted, "Hey look there they are!" When the spirits of the Scouts were set free, the bodies in the Phoenix Shrine were taken back to the castle, all in different rooms.

Everyone saw as Yugi and the others were coming toward them, and soon, they all started running.

"Guys!" Téa shouted, hugging them all.

Lita was holding Tristan's hand, happy to be with him.

Joey's eyes went wide when he saw his little sister Serenity. Amy was with her. He ran toward them, hugging them both.

"Joey," Serenity cried, "I missed you!"

"Y-you're kind of choking us Joey," Amy choked out.

"Huh? Oh, sorry." He let go of them.

"Mina!" Mokuba shouted.

Mina caught Mokuba and they spun around in a hug. She put Mokuba down when she saw Kaiba. At first he just stood there, then he opened up his arms and Mina ran and hugged him.

"It's good to be back sunshine," she said against his chest.

Valon was with Hotaru, and Raye and Duke had already started arguing, it was there way to show their love.

"Glad everything's back to normal," Alister murmured.

"I still have to find my family though." Raphael said.

Alister nodded. "Me too."

"Well it looks like you could use some help."

Alister and Raphael looked up to find Trista and Michelle standing in front of them. They each smiled.

"It could take awhile." Raphael told them.

Trista winked. "We're pretty patient."

Everyone was laughing and just happy to be together. Then Téa noticed Yugi, standing alone, and looking around.

"Is something wrong Yugi?" she asked.

"Where's…?"

"HI GUYS!!!"

Everyone turned to find Darien, Serena and Rini at the entrance of the castle, Serena holding Darien's hand and Rini in front of them. They looked like the perfect family.

"Rini!" Yugi yelled. Rini began to run toward them, and she threw her arms around Yugi's neck.

"SERENA!!!" the girls yelled.

"Oh guys!" she cried, wrapped in their hugs.

"We're so glad you're okay!" Lita said.

As everyone was gathered around Serena, a figure began to emerge in front of them.

"Dark Magician Girl!" Yugi exclaimed.

"You did it Yugi." She said. "You defeated Dove and saved all of mankind."

"Wait a minute…" Luna murmured.

"That voice…" Artemis gasped. "It's the same on as the girl from headquarters!!!"

Dark Magician Girl smiled. "I was wondering when you would figure it out. Both our worlds are connected. I was the one that sent you those items. I knew that you would be needing them."

"Wait," Serena started, "But how did you know that we were the Sailor Scouts?"

"I could feel it. Your spirits were pure just like that of the Sailor Scouts."

"All right, when duel monsters start talking that means it's time for me to go," Kaiba muttered, about to get into his Blue Eyes Jet.

Mina ran to him. "Wait! After all we've been through, you're just gonna turn and leave?"

"Duh." He said.

She stared at him for a few minutes. Then said, "Well, see ya later then!"

As he and Mokuba took flight, Kaiba looked back down and chuckled. "Yeah. See ya."

Mokuba waved frantically back at his friends, confident that he would soon see them again.

When the jet was well out of sight, Mina turned back to her friends. "Well, what do we do from here?"

Yugi shrugged. "Go home I guess."

"Wait," Raye interrupted, "So…who won the tournament?"

Pegasus turned to them all and said, "You all did."

"You're kiddin' right?" Joey said. "That's the corniest thing I ever heard of!" And then he started to sulk.

Everybody then laughed at him.

"Hey guys!" Téa shouted, pointing up at the sky, "Look!"

They all looked up to see four birds circling the sky. They recognized them as the Aviators. But there was one more…in the middle of the four.

"Is that…?" Amy started.

"It is." Yugi said. "That's a dove."

"Guess he was finally set free." Rini murmured.

"Well Rina," Rebecca snorted, "I guess I owe you an apology. You're not so bad after all."

"It told you already it's…!"

Rebecca held up her hand. "I know," she said. "It's Rini."

Rini gasped happily and hugged her new friend. At first Rebecca cringed but soon returned the hug.

Yugi smiled, relieved.

Serena laid her hand on Rini's shoulder. "Let's go home." She said softly.

Rini nodded. "Mm-hmm."

"Well," Lita laughed. "That was quite an adventure!"

"We should remember to be more careful the next time we hang out." Raye winked.

"I have a feeling that there's going to be a lot more problems in the future." Yugi said.

"I feel that too." Serena agreed.

"Well," Darien said, "as long as we stick together there's nothing that we can't do."

Everyone nodded in agreement. And so they all looked up into the sky, watching the birds fly up high and circle the sun, where the light shined down over the land, through the hills, past the mountains and valleys, across the clear, sparkling blue ocean…where a new beginning awaits.

THE END

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_A/N: I know, I know, not the most brilliant ending, but...hey, what are you gonna do? Just to let you know, the Sailor Moon cards ARE NOT REAL, I made them up on , and by the way, if you want to see them, if you give me your email address I'll be happy to email them to ya! Also, I can email a picture of the Aviators, or any of the duels for anyone who wants them. Just leave your email address in your review and tell me what ya want! Also, after each story I'm trying to do this thing where you can ask questions after the story. It's really fun, so check it out at my profile, it's called Phoenix Awakening - Your Questions. Oh, and I'd rather that you post your questions not here, but on the activity. Anyway, thanks!_


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